• strategy + business, Thursday, September 27, 2007 11:15 AM

An ongoing study conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton in conjunction with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) demonstrates that growth in revenue and profitability is strongest among those companies that elevate marketing's role to the strategic level.

In interviews with 15 chief marketing officers from some of the top marketing organizations worldwide--captured in the recently published "CMO Thought Leaders: the Rise of the Srategic Marketer"--six common themes emerged. The best CMOs: 1. Put the consumer at the heart of marketing 2. Make marketing accountable 3. Embrace the challenges of new media 4. Recognize the new organizational imperative 5. Live a new agency paradigm 6. Remain adaptable.

Although some of these imperatives sound all too familiar, there is a world of difference between knowing and doing. Successful CMOs act on each and all of the six basics, both to focus their work and to communicate the marketing department's potential to the entire organization.

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