Spanning Silos: The New Cmo Imperative

Why do so many chief marketing officers of multinationals last only two or three years on the job? Because product and country marketing teams – or “silos” – make their professional mandate impossible. Without synergy across silos, global CMOs cannot achieve their goals.In this eminently practical audiobook, branding guru David A. Aaker tells CMOs what they must do:· Find the right role and scope· Gain credibility and buy-in · Use teams to link silos · Develop a common planning process· Adapt the master brand to silo markets· Prioritize brands in the portfolio· Develop silo-spanning marketing programsFor each item, Aaker breaks down the CMO’s ambitious organizational challenges into manageable tasks of facilitation, consultation, and partnering. With his guidance, CMOs will have a better chance of reducing the negative attitude toward central marketing, gaining necessary support and resources, implementing cross-silo strategy and programs, cultivating a marketing-oriented culture, improving the pool of marketing talent, and moving toward a leadership role. For some firms, reducing the silo problem is the key to winning; for others, it is no less than the key to survival.

David A. Aaker is Vice-Chairman of Prophet, a branding, marketing, and innovation consultancy, and has published more that one hundred articles and fourteen books, including Brand Portfolio Strategy, Brand Leadership, Strategic Marketing Management (8th edition), Building Strong Brands, Managing Brand Equity, and From Fargo to the World of Brands. He lives in Orinda, California.