Chief marketing officers at consumer-focused brands (B2C) with big advertising budgets aren't staying in their roles as long as their business-to-business (B2B) colleagues.
Average tenure of these CMOs is 3.1 years, according to a study by executive search firm Spencer Stuart in the US.
The annual CMO Tenure Study found the average term among the consumer-heavy top 100 advertisers is 3.1 years.
The average for B2B CMOs is 4.5 years versus 4 for B2C chief marketers.
However, tenure is stabilising at 4.2 years, just below the C-suite average
The average tenure of Fortune 500 CMOs in 2023 was 4.2 years, unchanged from 2022.
“Historically, conventional wisdom suggested that CMOs turn over more often than other C-suite leaders,” said Spencer Stuart
“Our analysis of Fortune 500 C-suite tenure, however, shows that CMO tenure is just under the 4.6-year average for all C-suite functional leaders.”
The CMOs generally do well when they leave a position.
“We continue to see CMOs take on broader responsibility in their roles and, when they do turn over, they often move on to bigger and better positions,” the study said.
Sixty-eight percent of exiting Fortune 500 CMOs either were promoted to a new role within their current company or moved to a new company in a lateral or step-up position.
Thirty-four per cent of Fortune 500 CMOs lead functions as well as marketing, such as communications.
Women achieved parity with men in 2023, representing half of all Fortune 500 CMOs, an increase from 47% in 2022.
Among the top 100 advertisers, more than half (52%) of CMOs were women, a slight decrease from 53% in 2022.
The study is based on an analysis of 100 leading advertising companies.
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