The news: While many companies are eliminating CMO roles, a new Forrester report on the CMO at Fortune 500 companies finds the position far from dead.
- The research highlights significant disparities in the presence of CMOs across industries. For instance, the financial services and insurance sectors lead with a 91% representation of CMOs or equivalent roles.
- In stark contrast, the energy and mining sector lags, with only 21% of companies maintaining a CMO position. This suggests that industries with a strong consumer focus tend to prioritize marketing leadership more than those that are B2B-oriented.
Gender gap closing: Women now make up the majority of marketing leadership in six out of nine analyzed industries.
- Notably, women represent 59% of CMOs in B2B2C companies, 51% in B2B, and 50% in B2C organizations.
- This milestone indicates significant progress toward gender equality in marketing leadership roles, although challenges remain in terms of tenure length and retention.