‘A statement of intent’: Brands on the rationale behind appointing their first CMO
While some firms are cutting senior marketing leaders, others see appointing their first CMO as a statement of intent in the pursuit of growth.
After several years of CMO becoming an increasingly common job title, it seems cost-cutting may now be threatening its further expansion.
The latest data from the 2025 Marketing Week Career & Salary Survey shows that around a quarter (23.8%) of the more than 3,500 respondents have seen a senior marketer, typically a CMO, cut from their team and not replaced.
However, those midweight marketers eyeing a CMO role need not abandon their plans just yet. New chief marketing officer’s are still being appointed, some of them at companies which have never appointed a CMO before.
Stalwart bread brand Hovis is one of them. In July last year, the company appointed former General Mills marketing director Mark Brown as the first CMO in its long history.
