Page 16 - AeM_July_2014
P. 16
RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS
CMO Compensation
Report provides
insights on top
earners
Chief marketers who report directly to CEOs are likely to CMO compensation is directly related to reporting
earn more than their peers, says the Chief Marketing structure. Those making more than $500,000 annu-
Officer (CMO) Council in a new “CMO Compensation ally are more likely to report directly to the CEO.
Report” study, which was released yesterday. Addition-
ally, good peer relationships provide an advantage as The highest paid CMOs have developed strong alli-
the most highly paid CMOs have forged close partner- ances with CIOs and CFOs.
ships with chief financial officers and chief information
officers. CMOs earning the highest levels of base compensa-
tion tend to be focused on driving business perfor-
This study to benchmark and understand the key factors mance (e.g., top-line growth, market share, efficien-
influencing chief marketer compensation was undertak- cies, etc.).
en as part of the soon-to-be-released eighth “State of B2C CMOs have a higher base salary than B2B/
Marketing” audit by the CMO Council—a comprehen- hybrid-company CMOs.
sive audit that serves as a valuable resource and refer-
ence for the CMO Council’s 7,000 members in 110 CMO base compensation is correlated with firm size.
countries, who collectively control more than $400 bil- The larger the company, the more likely that the
lion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures. CMO will make more in base compensation and the
more likely they will have bonus compensation.
For this analysis, responses from 345 of the 525 partici-
pants in the “State of Marketing” audit of senior-level Digital marketing skills are important. CMO salary
marketers were evaluated to include insights from coun- tends to increase as their firm’s digital marketing per-
tries and companies around the world. Executive re- formance improves.
spondents with CMO, EVP, SVP or VP titles totaled 56
percent. In addition, 18 percent had director titles, which Marketing titles (i.e., CMO, VP of Marketing, SVP of
is often the most senior title in Europe, the Middle East, Marketing, etc.) don’t significantly correlate with base
Africa, APAC, India and Latin America. Some 8 percent compensation.
listed their titles under “Other,” and this included general Key accomplishments of the top earners (greater
managers and variations on the VP title. Most notably, than $500,000 base compensation) are centered on
60 percent reported to a CEO, president or COO, and restructuring marketing to drive results, improving
17 percent reported to a regional VP, GM or division/ the yield/accountability of marketing, and building
LOB leader.
digital capabilities.
The milestone 36-page report is filled with facts, stats, Bonuses are the most common type of compensa-
tables and analytics provided by Dr. Kimberly A. Whitler tion beyond base pay. Eighty-five percent of CMOs
of the Darden School of Business at the University of receive bonuses with large company CMOs being
Virginia. Dr. Whitler, who reviewed the research data more likely to have bonus-based compensation.
and authored the report, previously spent nearly 20
years in senior marketing and general management po- “With a minority of CMOs believing that they are fairly
sitions at Procter & Gamble and other companies. More paid, there appears to be a general issue with CMO
recently, she served as the CMO of David’s Bridal, the compensation,” Dr. Whitler notes. “This high degree of
country’s leading bridal apparel retailer; the CMO of dissatisfaction suggests that either CMOs are actually
Beazer Homes, a Fortune 500 homebuilder; and as an underpaid relative to key benchmarks identified in the
officer at PetSmart, the country’s largest pet specialty report or that CMOs just believe they are underpaid.
retailer. This important finding may be a key driver of CMO turn-
over and suggests both a greater need: 1) to under-
Key findings highlighted in the report include: stand why CMOs believe they are underpaid, and 2) for
more collaboration between executive recruiters,
CHROs, and CEOs to ensure that CMOs are fairly
compensated.”
16 Asian eMarketing July 2014 - Marketing Analytics
