The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), at its recent annual conference, has urged marketers to lead the United States out of the recession. Chief Marketing Officers of various multinationals – among them Walmart, McDonald’s, IBM, MillerCoors and Google – all spoke at the conference to explain how the actions of marketing departments have led to major turnarounds in fortune or fueled record growth. Included were examples of how, by focusing on the customer and having a deep understanding what their brands were about, stronger reputations have been built and impressive growth achieved.
In further news from the ANA, a new study shows that marketers increasingly see themselves as ‘visionaries’. When asked to choose whether they identified themselves as tactician, facilitator, leader or visionary, one-third of the 150 marketers who participated in the online study chose ‘visionary’.
The study found that ‘visionaries’ had a much higher level of influence within their respective organizations than those in other categories. For example, 89% were more likely to be leading strategic dialogue (compared to 11% of non-visionaries), two-thirds were more likely to be leading discussions around reinventing the business (compared to 21%), and 60% were more likely to collaborate with financial functions (as opposed to 22% of the non-visionaries).
