• Ad Age, Tuesday, May 6, 2008 10:02 AM

When asked to identify the five most important attributes of a successful chief marketing officer today, 65% of respondents to a survey of more than 200 senior-level marketing executives by Spencer Stuart cites an ability to influence the bottom line. Strategic orientation (44%) and customer orientation (33%) were the next most-frequently quoted attributes of a winning CMO.

It wasn't so long ago that many marketers were touting ad recall or brand awareness as their major goals. "It reflects the pressure that marketers are under today to be more accountable for business results and more closely linked with the full business," says Rick Routhier of the Marketing Officer Practice at Spencer Stuart.

Brand still ranks as the most important area a CMO must "own" to be successful, according to 92% of respondents. The survey also explored both the innate and learned qualities that distinguish effective CMOs: acceptance of risk, willingness to make decisions and problem-solving ability ranked high on the innate-attribute scale, while global experience, multi-channel expertise, cross-industry expertise and digital focus were the high scorers on the learned-attribute side.

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