Weary CMOs bemoan the rise of industry boosting tech

The rise of technology might have benefitted the marketing industry more than most but it seems it is all a bit too much for senior professionals, with nine out ten (92%) admitting they would have chosen a different career if they had known how tech-heavy their role would become.

This soars to every single (100%) experienced CMO who has been in their current role for between three and six years, sparking concerns about operational burnout at senior levels of the industry.

So says a new study by Intermedia Global (IMG), which quizzed 250 UK C-Suite professionals with responsibility for marketing technology in mid-sized companies with annual revenues between £100m and £500m. It found that around half (45%) of the marketing team now has a largely or completely tech-facing role, dealing with the organisation’s martech stack.

According to the survey, the CMO is the most likely role to have responsibility for the martech stack, even over the CFO or the CIO/CTO. In fact, almost twice as likely; in 35% of organisations it is down to the head of marketing, ahead of 19% where the stack “belongs” to the head of finance. In only 18% is it the head of IT’s job.

And, similarly, the CMO has the most influence on decisions about adopting new marketing technology in the organisation: 30%, compared to 25% of businesses where the main driver is the finance/procurement team or CIO/CTO.

IMG chief strategy officer Karla Wentworth said: “No-one got into marketing because they wanted to work in tech support. And, yet, that’s where we are now. The martech stack is king, and creativity and corporate strategy are in second place at best.”

She added that with more than 15,000 different tools now available to marketers, including the addition of AI platforms in recent years, technology has become so confusing and complex that it is no wonder it is taking up all the marketing team’s time.

Wentworth continued: “Does tool A talk to tool B? Can a creaking legacy tech stack handle sophisticated AI functionality? Whose job is it to fix it when something goes wrong? Does each country or region within the business have its own martech stack? It’s often a nightmare.

“Thanks to the profusion of martech, marketing departments now often have more tech experts than actual marketers. That’s not exactly conducive to great creative campaigns that seize the imaginations and emotions of audiences.

“Some CMOs are unquestionably tech experts, but many aren’t – and even those who are experts need free time to focus on marketing strategy.”