business strategy
Momentum ITSMA Staff
March 16, 2021
Learn how four leading CMOs adjusted to the new business environment by re-imagining the marketing journey with greater dependence on digital technology.
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The Covid-19 pandemic shook business processes to the core, but marketing made sure that both customers and employees could avail themselves of technology and services to cope and even succeed.
At ITSMA’s 2020 Marketing Vision Conference, Dave Munn, President and CEO, ITSMA, hosted a dynamic panel of four CMOs who shared the different ways their marketing organizations responded to the hard-hitting pandemic. These leaders adjusted rapidly to the new business environment by addressing the emotional impact of physical seclusion for both customers and employees and by re-imagining the marketing journey with greater dependence on digital technology.
This ITSMA Viewpoint summarizes the hour-long conversation and gives details about five key takeaways from the discussion on how marketers are leading their organizations out of the pandemic.
1 The pandemic brought hardship, but also opportunity:
“The opportunity for us as marketers is to embrace and drive change. We need to show how we are the value drivers for our company, our clients, our employees, and the communities that we work in.
Shade Vaughn, CMO, Capgemini North America
2 Rallying around a vision and channeling the excitement of working in an uncharted business environment, solution providers honed their messaging and offerings:
“A lot of the virtual events will probably continue, but how we use physical or virtual events will hinge on completely re-imagining the journey.
Rajashree R., CMO, Tata Consulting Services
3 Marketing was the catalyst for and facilitator of change, impacting business outcomes as never before and building credibility in the C-suite:
“Our customers want to meet us in the market digitally. This provides opportunity not only to bring our marketing teams forward, but the whole business forward. Tie that innovation with automation and you are a catalyst for change.
Jim Jackson, CMO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
4 Sales and marketing came together in a new way, leveraging digital insights, martech, and relevant content to better enable virtual selling:
“I like to make a James Bond analogy, where sales is James Bond and marketing is Q. Q provides the weaponry—the knowledge about the account—so sales can be successful.
Ann Ruckstuhl, SVP & CMO, Unisys
5 Marketing leaders are prioritizing the health and well-being of employees with creative ideas for balancing work/life issues, coping with stress, and having more fun:
“We heard from team members that one of their biggest frustrations was going into the weekend with a lot of work still on their plates. We just recently started piloting a unique program across marketing that we call Meeting-Free Fridays.
Jim Jackson, CMO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
For more insight on how these leading CMOs are making impactful decisions to work through the pandemic, download the Leading Marketing to the Next Normal Viewpoint, available at no cost to ITSMA members and for purchase by non-members.
