5 marketing job and hiring trends to know right now

Introducing the first in a recurring Ad Age series on marketing and CMO hiring trends. Three months ago, marketers were heading into 2024 with a host of concerns on the horizon, including the rise of artificial intelligence, a fickle economy, a disconnect with CEO leaders, and uncertainty on how to organize teams. Now, they can add to that list a potential U.S. ban on TikTok, which has drawn an increasing share of marketing dollars in recent years. To plan for the coming months, and cope with the plethora of challenges, some companies are reorganizing their marketing talent—expanding certain roles, eliminating others and preparing for whatever the future may hold. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here Below, Ad Age compiled a list of the five biggest hiring trends happening marketing right now: Eliminating the CMO role On Monday, Starbucks announced that its top marketer, Brady Brewer, who has served as executive VP and chief marketing officer for four years, would be elevated to CEO of Starbucks International. The company “will not replace the global chief marketing position,” according to a press release. Rather, Starbucks will distribute marketing on a regional basis, while hiring for a new position called global brand creative leader. While global CMO roles have come and gone before—Coca-Cola Co. eliminated the job in 2017 only to refill it two years later—the CMO title does seem to be under new pressure. In December, Walgreens and Etsy eliminated CMO roles as part of larger staff cuts. Anheuser-Busch InBev axed the U.S. CMO role late last year, putting marketing under the chief commercial officer position. Lowe’s got rid of the CMO position two years ago. Also read: Inside McDonald’s subculture marketing In the last three years, at least 13 Fortune 500 companies have abolished the CMO role at the enterprise level, according to recent data from executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart, as more brands ask individual marketing leaders to take on certain geographies or capabilities within the company as a way of augmenting marketing’s reach. “Many companies are moving toward a more fragmented organizational structure that may not have an enterprise [CMO] role,” said Richard Sanderson, who leads the marketing, sales and communications officer practice in North America at Spencer Stuart, noting that companies are looking to “organize marketing to have the most impact.” He added that 25% of Fortune 500 companies never had a CMO role at all—positions such as chief communications officer, chief supply officer, chief financial officer and of course, CEOs, are much more ubiquitous. Creating marketing-adjacent positions Another trend that has emerged in recent years as brands look to improve their marketing strategies involves the addition of marketing-adjacent roles. In some cases, particularly for retailers, roles such as chief customer officers replace CMOs as the companies look to put customers at the forefront of all of their marketing decisions, including loyalty programming. Read more: Why chief customer officer is the hottest job in retail For example, Foot Locker, Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret have all hired chief customer officers recently. Other positions, such as chief growth officer, are returning after a brief hiatus, typically working alongside CMOs, according to Sanderson. PepsiCo’s Jane Wakely has the title of chief consumer and marketing officer and chief growth officer of international foods, which includes both marketing and growth. In hospitality, several companies, including Hyatt and Omni Hotels & Resorts, have added the role of chief commercial officer. Omni’s Jeff Doane, who joined in January, was most recently chief commercial officer at hotelier Accor North America, and is now tasked with overseeing “all disciplines within marketing” at Omni, including brand and PR, social media and digital platforms, as well as global and hotel sales organizations, revenue management and loyalty. Over half of the Fortune 500 companies now have chief sustainability and or chief inclusion and diversity officers as well, Spencer Stuart found. Ad Age Leading Women Luncheon Join us Aug. 7 in New York as we recognize this year’s honorees Buy your ticket today Filling in the gaps with freelance Many marketers are taking a page from the agency playbook when it comes to hiring, according to Melissa Waters, CMO at freelancing platform Upwork, who said brands are using more freelance talent to fill in the gaps. “The demands on marketers haven’t changed—for a long time, it’s been quite fragmented on what to manage across platforms and techniques and that’s not changing any time soon whether TikTok is banned in the U.S. or not,” she said. “Marketing has long been a sea of specialization and it remains so—people who are resource-constrained are trying to approach their team with a modern ethos around ‘I don’t have to hire in only one way I can approach it from a more flexible model.’” Waters said that like agencies, which have met certain needs and deadlines for clients by hiring more freelance talent on a project basis, Upwork is seeing more brands adopt a similar approach and abandon only full-time hires. Upwork said that 64 million Americans performed freelance work last year, a 7% increase from 2022. In a report released earlier this week, Upwork found that the top three in-demand skills for sales and marketing hiring include social media marketing, SEO and sales and business development. Also read: Behind the “fractional CMO” Embracing AI Upwork also found that, unsurprisingly, companies are looking to hire workers with AI skills. Generative AI modeling is the top in-demand skill for freelance hiring in the data science and analytics category. Despite the technology—and expertise of it—being so nascent, many marketers are looking for employees well-versed in AI, even if they don’t yet know what type of marketing those workers will be doing, according to Pete Hayes, principal and CMO of Chief Outsiders, a specialist that provides fractional CMO services. “AI is changing everything on everybody and the biggest impact is on sales and marketing,” he said, noting that some companies are looking for chief AI officers to work alongside CMOs, while others are looking for CMOs that are more literate in AI. “They’re looking for somebody to quarterback the environment so they can take advantage where it makes sense, someone aware enough to assess the opportunities.” Also read: AI jobs in marketing Promoting from within Companies seem to have put an emphasis on grooming their own talent, especially at consumer packaged goods brands. In the past, CPG giants such as Unilever, Pepsi and Procter & Gamble were exporters of talent, so much so that they developed reputations as “marketing academies,” said Spencer Stuart’s Sanderson. But CPGs have done an increasingly good job of developing talent and grooming people for top jobs, he suggested, so that more leaders are “insiders as opposed to outsiders.” For instance, Vicki Felker was promoted to chief marketing and innovation officer at Nestlé USA in October after working for three years as a VP on the Nestlé global Amazon team. Across all industries, Spencer Stuart found that 42% of CMOs at Fortune 500 companies in 2023 were external hires; down from 46% in 2022. Ad Age Salary Guide The hottest ad industry jobs and what they’re paying Read more here

5 marketing job and hiring trends to know right now

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