"Brace yourself," says global industry analyst Forrester to CMOs.
Forrester predicts that 2021 will be the year that every company will double down on technology-fuelled experiences, operations, products, and ecosystems.
And the year will be a rocky follower to a roaring 2020, says Forrester in its CMO predictions report.
“Expect another year of reduced media expenditures, scanty teams, lean tech and agency partner networks, and the continued vacancy of business in the travel and hospitality,” the Forrester analysts say.
“Our best-case scenario predicts overall marketing spend in the US will start 2022 nearly 30% behind where 2019 closed.
“Outdated CMOs — those content to run promotions, sales support, or media buying teams — won’t be able to hide their lightweight contributions behind the strong returns of a good economy.
“Difficult times will bring on the reckoning we predicted last year — that CMOs would step up to be the driver of customer obsession at their firms, or they will cede that role to a chief customer or experience officer.”
Chief marketing officers need to drive customer obsession at their firms, rather than just guiding ad buying and promotions, says Forrester.
The harsh economic climate coming in 2021 will overwhelm foundering marketing technology, systems, and processes that have survived (way) too long behind a strong economy.
Reinventing themselves, their teams, and the marketing function will be the theme for successful CMOs in 2021, according to Forrester.
“Good CMOs will embrace diversity to fuel creative ways to continually reacquire customers at every interaction,” says Ashutosh Sharma, VP and research director at Forrester.
“And they will suit up with their teams, doing the hard work, not just overseeing it.
“The current economic climate has increased the urgency for every enterprise to embrace technology as a strategic asset.
“Asia Pacific is finally entering a decade of a digitally levelled playing field. Firms in the region will be at par with or even exceed the rest of the world in terms of technology-driven business model innovation. COVID-19 affected Asia Pacific first, and we expect it will also be the first to emerge from the crisis.”
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