Great CMO Advice From Anthony Palmer at Kimberly-Clark

With the average tenure of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) now under two years, it’s refreshing to hear from Anthony Palmer, Kimberly-Clark CMO, who points out some key advice for companies and those holding a CMO title (or similar position). The story is here on the Wall Street Journal (usually behind a subscription paywall). These are a few of the quotes from the story:

“To me, the role of a CMO is really pretty simple. You can’t ever lose sight of the fact that your role is to sell more stuff to more people for more money more often. That has got to be the ultimate goal. You also have to inspire the organization to take calculated risks, and inspire the organization to love winning more than they’re afraid of losing.”

“We’re growing our spending in terms of focusing on new news, driving the promise of the brand, innovating on the delivery of that promise, and driving a dialogue with the consumer in new and interesting places. We’re also focused on emerging markets...Our digital spending is up fourfold. We are much more focused on alternative media.”

“You have to go back to the simple point that a brand is a promise and the product is a delivery of that promise. If you make that promise and deliver it better than the competition, you’ll build brand equity. I believe brands are more salient today to consumers than they ever have been—they are a simplifying mechanism in a world where there are many more options.”

“You can take on a bigger, harder-spending competitor if you spend more wisely. The root cause of great performance is great talent, and that’s the other thing the CMO can do—be sure you have great talent who are trained and supported but also know how to win and believe who they win.”

Thanks to John Moore at Brand Autopsy for the point.