A day in the life of a CMO

What is life like for the CMO we’re trying to convince?

To sell sponsorships, it’s important to understand the other side.

Their problems, goals and challenges.

The truth is that a CMO’s day-to-day life has little to do with what we imagine.

They spend little time on the fun and creative side of campaigns. That’s mainly left to the team.

Marketing leaders focus on other priorities, built around these 4Ps:

1. People. Build and maintain a capable, motivated and complete team.
2. Performance. Achieve brand and business objectives.
3. Planning. Set goals and develop the strategy.
4. Persuasion. Convince internal and external stakeholders.

That’s why people say you can get promoted for being good at Marketing, but you only reach the top if you’re a good leader.

A study by Uncensored CMO, involving 65 CMOs from major UK companies, highlights some of the challenges of the role:

Limited representation, little autonomy and pressure to deliver results. Often with resources that don’t keep up with business growth.

It’s no coincidence that the CMO role is one of the most demanding, with an average tenure of just three years (Digiday).

There is an opportunity to better connect Marketing with business strategy, going beyond advertising campaigns.

With all this in mind, how can we help through our sponsorship projects?

• Do more with less. Design partnerships that help optimise budgets, including production, media and measurement.
• Deliver short-term results. Beyond long-term brand benefits, offer promotions and activities that also contribute to commercial objectives.
• Connect with business strategy. Design projects that support the company’s priorities and make internal approval easier.
• Reduce time and effort. Take on much of the execution to avoid adding pressure to the team’s workload and departmental resources.

Yes, it’s complex.

The challenge isn’t just to convince the CMO that our project is good. It’s to show how it can help solve the company’s problems.

The better we understand a CMO’s day-to-day life, the easier it becomes to build partnerships they actually want to buy.