Commentary

Marketing Today: 'Forbes' CMO Network's Jenny Rooney On The State Of Marketing

by Alan Hart , June 18, 2019

This week on the “Marketing Today” podcast, I speak with Jenny Rooney, editor of the CMO Network at Forbes. Rooney, who also runs the CMO Summit and the Forbes CMO University Alumni series, has 25 years of experience as a business journalist, including as a reporter and editor of CMO Strategy at Advertising Age, editor in chief of Sales and Marketing Management at VNU, contributing editor at Chief Executive magazine, and senior writer at Business 2.0.

If you have been just as concerned about the decline of available marketing talent as the industry has, Rooney provides insights on what can relieve this troubling trend. With her research into the ever-changing marketing space, Rooney shares what marketing leaders are up against right now.

“CMOs need to be driving business growth,” says Rooney. “They say that CMOs are on the hot seat. And I think that is because they are constantly trying to balance short-term wins against true long-term brand building.”

Rooney goes on to state, “We are also judging people based on innovation and change, and to do that as a CMO, I would imagine, you sort of feel this pressure to want to experiment with things and new technologies.”

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:

-- Jenny Rooney discusses how she got her start in her career. (01:15)

-- Does Rooney have an interest in working as a CMO? (04:50)

-- Does she believe the role of the CMO is changing? (09:54)

-- Who is impressing her these days? (12:21)

-- What is being done about the talent issue in the industry? (15:14)

-- Rooney describes the Forbes CMO University Alumni series. (18:01)

-- How does she make sense of all of the things that are in flux in the industry? (22:27)

-- What is on the horizon for marketing leaders? (26:31)

-- Are there any threats to CMOs? (30:05)

-- What companies, brands, or organizations should marketers pay attention to? (39:04)

-- What does Rooney see for the future of marketing? (41:10)