10 ways marketing will be transformed in 2007

Via Bob Liodice on the ANA blog:

1. Consumer in Control: Marketers will abandon their historic ‘command and control’ model of brand building in favor of a truly interactive dialogue with consumers
2. New Agenda for Agencies: Agencies will be turned on their heads, with their efforts increasingly tied to client brand performance.
3. Hail to the Chief: The chief marketing officer will rise in stature as a C-suite player...
4. Unconventional Outreach: Marketing will become increasingly unconventional – tapping into social networking, word-of-mouth, local events and more...
5. Media Buying Metamorphosis: Media buying and selling will be transformed.
6. Let the Fighting End: Government policymakers, consumer advocacy groups and brand marketers will begin to find common ground, aligning business goals with public policy needs.
7. Organizational Overhaul: The marketing organization will undergo a top-to-bottom reinvention, providing better professional education and skill-building...
8. Research Renewal: Research will become the next frontier in the accountability equation.
9. Blow up the Back Room: Archaic business systems and back office operations will be overhauled to lower costs...
10. Continuous Marketing Reinvention: Continuous marketing reinvention will become the mantra of marketing executives and the cornerstone philosophy for successful brand building, integrated marketing communications, marketing accountability and the marketing organization.

Bob's 10-step program of progress truly validates the new and pretty scary path we've set out on with the formation and launch of crayon. It also underscores the mountain that still has to be climbed.

There is a still a massive disconnect between "what we say" as an industry and "what we do." The rhetoric is deafening and there is an abundance of "change is good, but not on my watch" which makes for a sobering inhibitor of innovation and progress.

Take point number 3: the rise of the CMO for example. It's going to take a lot more than a title or keynote speech at a AAAA's or ANA event to demonstrate that the CMO title is nothing more than a glorified or token figurehead. Along with this leadership position has got to be a degree of empowerment and budget autonomy. Put differently, in order to leverage the full power and potential of the C-level marketing position (which I think is beyond critical), point 7 - i.e. organizational overhaul - is going to need to be simultaneously and comprehensively implemented.

My hope is that at this time next year, we'll be looking at a self-reported progress card which glows with achievement and accomplishment.

Perhaps next year will be different...