Marketing Briefing: Why fractional CMOs are being tapped for ‘impartial’ evaluations of marketing orgs, agencies

The thinking is that a fresh set of eyes avoids the “tunnel vision” that can come from being part of a company for a long time, explained Kevin Simonson, CEO of adMixt and former fractional CMO. 

The variety of experience as well as the “impartial” view point allows the fractional CMO to assess the company’s marketing and make suggestions to improve as well suggest vendors that would be a good fit for the company’s goals, noted Simonson, adding that when he was brought in as a fractional CMO — Simonson was previously a fractional CMO at Shefit in 2023 — it was often at the behest of investors or private equity firms looking for ways to boost growth for the company. The kinds of companies that tap fractional CMOs vary but often they are early stage companies looking to grow without the resources for a full-time CMO.

Scott Briggs, an advisor, investor and fractional CMO, echoed that sentiment. “What I’ve found is that these companies are in a pickle,” said Briggs when asked about why companies need a fractional CMO. “Maybe they’re using agencies and they don’t know what they’re getting. They don’t know if they’re getting screwed. Usually there’s something wrong and I come in to fix the puzzle.” 

Often today’s fractional CMO will work for companies somewhere between three months to a year to figure out the strategy a company needs for whatever it is they’re trying to do — a new strategy, product launch or expanding into a new territory or market, explained April Uchitel, founder of We Are The Board, a collective of C-Suite fractional execs. 

“You’re definitely coming in and assess the organization, assessing the team, the agency, relationships, the budget, the roadmap of where they want to show up and then using [the fractional CMO’s] expertise to really help move those companies forward,” said Uchitel, adding that the variety of experiences that most fractional CMOs have, often from previous positions at top companies, allow them to make those assessments easily. 

The use of the fractional CMO comes as there continues to be “high levels of churn” for full time CMOs, noted Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president and principal analyst, Forrester. 

That “churn does create many instances of rudderless marketing groups, and the fractional CMOs are a good way to tend to the garden in the interim with proven marketing talent rather than a makeshift internal compromise,” wrote Chatterjee in an email. “Although the interim role may be more about keeping out the weeds rather than bringing about a bloom.” 

And the added complexity of the CMO role today may be another reason for the continued growth of the fractional CMO position. 

“CMO’s in general have been taking on more responsibilities,” wrote Jean Batthany, fractional chief creative officer at We Are the Board who has served in various fractional roles as well as executive positions at companies like Walmart and Disney, in an email.

“The role is a mix of: creative, branding, communications, content, public relations, crisis control, media, customer experience, customer acquisition, retention, performance, insights and analytics, agency management and digital technologies,” she said. “It’s the total brand experience and everything that surrounds the customer. Marketing is just one piece of it. Tough job for one person.”

Questions for Nike’s incoming CEO

Last week, Nike announced that CEO John Donahue would be departing the company and that veteran Nike exec Elliott Hill would take the reins. Nike employees have been “elated” by the news with the hopes that Hill will bring back the company’s edge. Ahead of Hill’s appointment, Digiday spoke with a former Nike executive, who requested anonymity in exchange for candor, to get a sense of the areas Nike needs to focus on as well as questions Hill should be asking as he takes control.

Rebuilding relationships with consumers, wholesalers and employees

To right the ship and make Nike cool again — Donahue reportedly made Nike uncool by losing its cultural dominance — one of the first questions Hill needs to ask is “Who do I need to win back?” explained the exec, adding that the question goes for not only consumers but wholesalers. At the same time, Nike will also need to find a way to boost morale. “How do you galvanize this group of people to show up and drink the Koolaid again?” asked the exec. “Nike had a lot of Koolaid but people stopped drinking it because it was really hard and difficult to believe in it [in recent years]. So how do you create that belief in the brand again?”

Reinvigorate marketing and advertising

Nike’s recent Olympics work is a step in the right direction, said the former exec, who noted that Nike will need to figure out if they want to “double down” on the athlete-focused consumer and, if so, what that will look like. “Consumers still love great brand storytelling,” said the exec, adding that “it can’t just be affiliate marketing and performance marketing and the occasional good spot.”

“You have to be in multiple different places, speaking multiple different languages in the way the consumer wants you to speak to them,” said the former exec. “How do they get channel specific to get in front of the consumer and understand what’s going to move certain people through the funnel? And thread the needle to be loyal and feel like they’re part of something bigger than just a brand?”

Return to innovation

The main question Hill will hear and should be asking is “How does Nike get its edge back?,” explained the former exec. “It’s edge across everything. Edge with its team, edge with its partners, edge with the consumer.” To regain that edge “innovation is key” and “they’ve already been working on that but they’re going to have to focus on innovation, take some risks, some big swings.”

By the numbers

That U.S. presidential election and major sporting moments such as the Olympics were due to boost advertising spend was already known — but early projections underestimated just how much they’re spur investment, according to a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The IAB’s latest Outlook survey of 200 media buyers at agencies and brands, previously conducted in November 2023, shows marketers extending their willingness to spend on CTV, linear TV and retail media in particular.

• 14.5%: The proportion buyers expected to raise their spending on CTV by, relative to 2023 spend, when asked late last year.
• 18.4%: The proportion they estimated they’ve actually raised it by in 2024.
• 25.1%: The projected 2024 year-on-year increase in retail media spending reported by buyers. When asked in 2023, they estimated 21.8%. — Sam Bradley

Quote of the week

“A lot of brands are not driving culture forward and they can’t afford to have a misstep. There’s the brands that are willing to be bold and go out on a limb. But most brands are not like that. Most brands can’t afford to lose the people on the other side.”

— Bette Ann Fialkov, a consultant who specializes in influencer marketing, when asked about why brands are pushing for influencers to be apolitical this election season.

What we’ve covered

• What are the likely Google defense tactics in its existential battle with the DOJ?
• ‘There’s a point of diminishing returns’: Why retail media’s reckoning is said to be on the horizon
• Broadcasters and advertisers expected a lot from the Olympics — was it worth it?