Average CMO Tenure Rises Again, Has Doubled In the Past Decade

March 23, 2015

This article is included in these additional categories:

Automotive | Business of Marketing | Media & Entertainment | Pharma & Healthcare | Retail & E-Commerce | Staffing | Technology

SpencerStuart-Average-CMO-Tenure-2004-2014-Mar2015Source: Spencer Stuart

    Notes: CMOs see themselves as having greater responsibility for company strategy in years to come, and one sign of that increasing influence might well be their longer tenures. Indeed, Spencer Stuart’s latest annual study of CMO tenure finds that the average tenure for CMOs at leading US consumer brand companies has grown from 23.6 months in 2004 to 48 months last year, still a ways behind the average CEO’s tenure of 80 months but nevertheless signaling that “CEOs are confident in giving their CMOs the task of truly leading dramatic change within their organizations.”

    As with years past, the average tenure of a CMO differs widely across industries, highest among those in the technology industry (65 months) and lowest among those in the automotive sector (26 months). The largest year-over-year percentage change was observed for CMOs in the communications/media (+30% to 44 months) and healthcare (+23% to 52 months) industries. By contrast, the average tenure for a CMO in the retail/apparel industry shrunk by 25%, to 40 months.

      Related: 7 in 10 Enterprise CEOs Believe They Are Wasting Money on Marketing Initiatives

        About the Data: The Spencer Stuart study has been conducted annually since 2004. Data for this year’s study was based on an analysis of tenure of CMOs of the top 100 advertised brands.

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