Jim Mollica’s Post

I am absolutely thrilled to be joining The CMO Syndicate as an Associate Chief Marketing Officer. It’s a privilege to contribute to a global team recognized for its excellence in marketing leadership and dedicated to transforming our clients' journeys. Thank you, Ani Matson, and the entire team, for your warm welcome. I am genuinely excited to bring my experience to the table, creating significant value for our clients and supporting them in achieving their most ambitious goals, while contributing to our strategic growth in Latin America. I look forward to achieving great things together! 🚀 #CMOSyndicate #MarketingLeadership #GlobalExpansion #DigitalMarketing #MarketingStrategy #LatinAmericanMarket #BrandStrategy #CustomerCentric #MarketingInnovation #GrowthMarketing #MarketingConsulting #MarketingAdvisor #FractionalCMO #BusinessGrowth #StrategicMarketing #DigitalTransformation #ConsultingServices #FractionalMarketing #MidMarket #SMBMarketing #MidSizeBusiness #MarketingForSMB #MarketingStrategies

In a landscape where innovation is the heartbeat of success, the role of a Chief Marketing Officer is not just vital; it's irreplaceable. Recent discussions about companies reevaluating or even discarding their CMO positions raise critical questions about the strategic direction these businesses are taking. Integrating marketing responsibilities into various departments may seem like a cost-effective strategy, but it raises a red flag about the potential dilution of focus on marketing within the organization. A dedicated CMO is way more than just a title. Instead it's a commitment to ensuring that marketing isn't just a side project but an integral part of the company's DNA, from brand development, campaign execution and customer engagement. Let's be bold about this – the CMO is not expendable - it's the driving force behind innovation, brand resilience, and revenue growth. Competition is fierce, so having a visionary at the helm of marketing isn't a luxury but rather a necessity. To me the role of a CMO isn’t on the edge of disappearing, it's simply evolving, adapting, and becoming more crucial than ever. What are your thoughts? https://lnkd.in/eNC6QjUc

Interesting read from AdWeek regarding the evolving role of the top marketing leader within an organization. This highlights the importance of truly understanding an organization's expectations when considering a new role. Additionally, it speaks to why I've loved having a career in Marketing & Brand Management -- to stay relevant you have to continually learn, grow, and build new skill sets. In case you don't have an AW subscription - a few highlights: 1. Data collected by Spencer Stuart in June '23 demonstrated how much fragmentation there is regarding the titles used to refer to the top marketing leader within a company. Among the top marketers at Fortune 500 companies: 36% are title "Chief Marketing Officer", 31% have the word "marketing" but don't go by CMO, 13% have CMO plus an additional function (such as Chief Merchant & Marketing Officer), 13% don't have "marketing" in their title at all (like, Chief Growth Officer), and the final 7% have neither "chief" or "marketing" (VP of Communications & Brand). 2. The titles vary widely and so does the scope of responsibilities and marketing team structures. 3. Contrast this variability in the top marketing leader role with another C-suite role that has more consistency in definition and expectation like the CFO... A quote from Richard Sanderson (at Search Firm Spencer Stuart) that captures this contrast -- “When I’ve seen job specifications for CFOs, 80% of them look the same—they all have the same org charts, the same people reporting into them. I have yet to see two marketing leaders who have the same org chart.” https://lnkd.in/grWnP9gW

(Yet) Another new title for CMO's... Who runs the marketing in your business? For years it was just the Marketing Director and the only real confusion was whether they were a marketing Director or a Director of Marketing (yes its different, yes it was a thing). But in the last few years all that changed and soon after the rise of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) came Chief Customer Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Chief Growth Officer... You know its become an issue when Marketoonist starts to notice - the closest thing the Marketing profession has to being on The Simpsons (or The Muppet Show for those of a certain age). Here is the cartoon he ran back in August 2019 https://lnkd.in/eCzQaB6K But now, according to Forbes, a new change - the new CMO is in fact a COO. Given most COO's I've met are 30 year veterans of manufacturing, logistics or similar 'tough' environments you may not want to be in the room when suggesting their successor comes from the 'colouring in department'. But this evolution, unlike the predecessors in 2019, actually makes sense. If the role of marketing is putting the customer at the heart of the organisation then it makes sense that you put your best marketeer at the heart of your organisation. I think most people would agree that the greatest CMO of the last 50 years has to be Steve Jobs - he ran marketing from a CEO role. Jeff Bezos at Amazon (allegedly) keeps a spare seat at every meeting for 'the customer' ... again textbook marketing (albeit with the benefit of hindsight). Of course the biggest criticism of the move will be from those saying our CMO wouldn't last 5 minutes in a COO role, they just don't have the knowledge of the business. In some cases this may be true, or it may be a lack of communication from the CMO to their colleagues about how much they really do know. The best CMO's I have worked with do have a granular understanding of their business, they could step into the COO role - and they make sure their colleagues know it. What company wouldn't be better with a strong COO that really understood the marketing role? If you are looking for career development as a marketing leader - maybe its time to start thinking about how to become the next COO of your organisation?

When my VP Marketing resigned in late 2023 I took over as interim head of marketing. 8 months later I’m still in the role and enjoying every minute of it. We met up for our Q3 planning day a couple of weeks ago, and at that time I brought the EOS framework to the team. What is EOS? It’s the Entrepreneurial Operating System, popularized by Gino Wickman in the book, Traction. (The framework itself is sometimes called Traction). It helps create organizational focus by setting regular meeting cadences with specific agendas, 90-day planning, balanced scorecard, tackling issues, and more. It is meant to cascade down through a company, starting with the executive team. While we had been using it at the company level for quite some time, this was an opportunity to bring it to the marketing department. I felt it was important because due to the nature of marketing, which can include sporadic requests, big projects, and lots of little tweaks and optimizations, we were starting to get lost in the details and couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Everything felt like it had equal priority. So, what was the result of EOS? We’ve just begun implementing it but here’s where we’re at: Our weekly sync is more focused Instead of everyone sharing one-way updates, we use our syncs to align around scorecard, big rocks, and issues. Any tangents get relegated to tasks (ie: take it offline to discuss). 📈Everyone owns a number Instead of just one person reporting on the data, each person brings their number to the meeting with an established baseline. Their goal is to move this number to hit a target (I’ll share what these numbers are in another post). 🤨We identify, discuss and solve issues By tracking issues, assigning priority and owner, we get clarity and transparency around what’s blocking us from achieving our goals. Then we create projects (big rocks) to fix issues or hit numbers on the scorecard. 🪨Everyone has Big rocks These are the important projects that will move the dial on one of our numbers or fix one of our issues. At our sync, each person reports on their rock as either on track, behind schedule, or off track. This system is keeping us more focused on what matters which, in turn, makes meetings more focused. Do you use a system like this? What works for you? PS: I’ll share our scorecard in tomorrow’s post.

Welcoming Caroline Hepworth our new Senior Marketing Manager for TradePoint. Caroline comes to us from the manufacturing industry where she spent the last 6 years being responsible for global marketing. While this is Caroline's first role in retail she brings with her a well-rounded perspective and commercial awareness to help continue to move TradePoint forward. Here she is telling us about her move across to B&Q, and some exciting ambitions for the future. “I joined the B&Q team in October of last year, so still fresh to the business. My career has gained me over 20 Years of marketing experience, spanning various industries, from Leisure and Tourism to manufacturing, education and even some time spent working for marketing agencies. For the previous six years I have had a couple of roles working in the manufacturing industry (American-based companies with a global presence), having responsibility for global marketing - from launching new products or creating brands in different markets – it’s been a varied career to date. There were two factors that motivated me to enter the DIY industry. For years, B&Q has had a reputation for being a ‘people’ led business. I have always admired their focus on flexible working, drive for equality and diversity and the sheer size of the business meant a bigger scope for the career opportunities I was looking for. I also wanted to learn something new. Each role I have taken has been in a new industry for me and I believe that’s made me a well-rounded marketer. Having never worked in the retail sector before, I knew I would relish the challenge and unlock a whole new area of knowledge for me. Even though the industries I have worked in have been very diverse - the challenges those businesses face and their marketing objectives have been very similar. Whether it was launching a new range of products to the European market or writing a marketing plan for a company in Africa, the approach is always the same - understand the customer and have that ‘customer first’ mindset – get to know their pain points, challenges, and motivations. That’s always been the starting point in any business I’ve worked in. I think having a broad, global perspective definitely helps. I find that I approach things from a wider business and customer perspective and having worked for businesses of different sizes, I have been exposed to many different functions that have helped shape my commercial awareness and empathy. It makes it easier to collaborate with others, which ends in a better result for the business and the customer. I have big ambitions and we have some exciting times ahead for the TradePoint brand. We are looking at some big, strategic projects and looking at getting even closer to our Trade customers to understand how we can best serve their needs.” To find out more about working at B&Q click https://bit.ly/3tFbcou #BandQCareers

A Marketing Monk Drives Brand Empowerment through PR & Digital Marketing Strategies

A Marketing Monk Drives Brand Empowerment through PR & Digital Marketing Strategies

A Marketing Monk Drives Brand Empowerment through PR & Digital Marketing Strategies

“When can you start?” I’ll never forget the moment I stood outside Target as the JCC’s then-executive director, Marvin, asked me when I’d be available to helm his community center’s marketing efforts. “Can you wait two months until I graduate?” When I started as the marketing director for the JCC of Greater Orlando, I was only 21 years old. I had a solid repertoire of marketing and design skills from my work at UCF and with Hillel. But I was certainly not prepared to navigate the intricacies and competing demands of marketing a complex institution staffed by professionals who were mostly double and triple my age. Over the course of the next 11 years, I learned through trial and error, success, failure, and mentorship how to be successful in this unique role. I went into the job excited to implement a brand. I accomplished that, but I also navigated big personalities, competing priorities, the launch of a new center, the advent of social media, a pivot to digital marketing, and even crises involving personal injury, economic recession, and security threats. And I gained a lot of friends (and even a husband!) along the way. While it’s been six years since I left my JCC marketing role, I haven’t forgotten the wisdom I accumulated that helped me be successful. It’s a collection of wisdom that I shared many times over the course of my tenure, as other JCC marketing directors were referred to call me for advice. The wisdom I shared wasn’t how to market. Community centers are already hiring great marketing professionals. Instead, I coached these marketing pros on how to market in this uniquely challenging environment so they could experience more success and more peace in their roles. I’ve now distilled all of this knowledge into an online course. It’s text-based (so no videos, yet). It’s organized into 12 comprehensive modules to digest—covering everything from laying the groundwork, getting clear on roles, project management, building brand identity, leveraging social media and the media, security preparations, harnessing partnerships, leveraging social proof, handling photography, conducting research, and avoiding common pitfalls. It’s a blueprint to take control of your community center marketing. Now, I recognize that this is a very niche audience. I have no idea if this course will find widespread adoption. But I’m proud of the lessons I learned, and it was important to me to document that knowledge. So that’s what I’ve done here. In the unlikely event you’re friends with a marketing pro at a community center, I’d appreciate it if you’d share this course with them. And in the likelier event that you’re not, maybe I’ve inspired you to document the wisdom that YOU'VE hard-earned. Because whether you're 21 or 71, it's never too early or too late to dive in, make an impact, and start shaping your community—you just have to be ready to answer the question: “When can you start?” 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eNtHvJGu