I joined a virtual meeting of CMOs hosted by Egon Zehnder. Here’s what’s on the mind of the marketing leaders around the world amid COVID-19:
- It’s time to show/activate our brand purpose and build more trust in brands and companies. There were many examples of companies communicating and acting to support customers, employees, and partners. Purpose activation is flourishing.
- Creativity is flowing. Something has happened – people are released from paradigms and are moving faster. They are more consumer centric, more thoughtful, less bureaucratic.
- Media plans are changing quickly to accommodate changes in behavior. Content creation and production are changing as the tone of world is different and they have production constraints.
- Companies’ need to communicate with employees is super important, but beware of burnout. People feel they are working harder with fewer resources and more family responsibilities. One CMO and team are doing digital workouts together.
- Some businesses are surging and some have hit a wall. All feel that consumer habits, rituals, and attitudes are resetting. It will not be back to business as usual – it will be some sort of reset.
- Get to work on longer-term projects that have previously been pushed back. One CMO set up a few task forces led by “not the usual suspects.”
