• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, July 15, 2015

As marketing and technology converge, so too do the people pulling the strings -- or in the case of ad technology, the people typing the code.

The “traditional” roles of CMO (chief marketing officer) and CTO (chief technology officer) are blending into a hybrid role, giving birth to a new chief of ad tech: the Chief Marketing Technologist.

The rising role comes from a new UK-based research report from demand-side platform (DSP) DataXu. The DSP surveyed 250 “marketing decision makers in the UK” in March 2015 for the report, and also conducted 10 phone interviews with senior marketers from a variety of industries.

Just over one-in-four (26%) respondents said that over 50% of their day-to-day job routine involves the use of marketing technology -- not counting email or social media -- while another one-third (31%) says that between 26% and 50% of their job uses marketing technology. Another third (34%) fell in the “up to 25%” category, while 11% said that no aspect of their role involves the use of marketing technology.

About half (49%) of respondents think that their responsibilities will continue to rely on marketing technology the same amount in the next five years, while 38% expect their role to depend more on the use of marketing technology in that span. Only 6% of those surveyed think marketing technology will become less important to their day-to-day routine over the next five years.

As marketing and technology merge, the majority of respondents (70%) believe that more companies will begin hiring Chief Marketing Technologists (CMT), or tech-focused marketers, in the next five years. One-in-three (31%) of those surveyed hoped to end up in that position themselves, while 14% said they are already operating as a marketing tech guru for their company.

If, as the respondents predict, the CMT becomes an integral part of businesses, it remains unclear what will happen to the CMO role as it exists today. About half (53%) of respondents think that most organizations should have both a CMO and CMT, but another half thinks that CMOs should have the control of marketing technology in their organization.

Should another chief emerge, it will surely shake things up. The DataXu report makes it clear that marketers are split down the middle when it comes to what those evolved roles will look like, and how responsibilities will be divvied up when that day comes.

The full report can be found here.