The 2025 CMO Survey, conducted annually by Deloitte, The Fuqua School at Duke University, and the American Marketing Association, was published recently. While the survey offered some good news for marketers, concluding that marketing’s role in organizations has broadened and marketing’s influence has increased modestly over time, a deeper analysis of the survey results reveals some problems, especially for marketing’s contributions to brand building, growth, and profitability.
The respondents to the survey, who are all senior marketing professionals, reported that marketing was primarily responsible for a variety of communication tasks, ranging from digital marketing to branding and advertising. Marketing research and analytics were also among the more common responsibilities. Communicating with and understanding customers are unambiguously important elements in building brands. But communication alone, no matter how creative, does not create a successful brand. The product offering, price, and availability of a product are also critical for successful branding and have a direct impact on financial performance. On these three dimensions, the survey suggests that marketing has modest responsibilities: Less than a third of the respondents reported that their marketing organization was responsible for innovation or new products, only quarter reported that their marketing organization was responsible for pricing, and only seven percent reported that their marketing organization was responsible for distribution.
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Such findings are consistent with the standard view that branding is all about messaging, the development of original, compelling, attention-grabbing, and likeable stories about the brand communicated in engaging ways through multiple modalities. This is part of branding, to be sure. But the product offering is the foundation of a successful brand: what is its benefit(s), how is it superior, or at least different from competitors’ offerings, and why would a customer buy it. News about the product, product improvements, new uses, success stories, demonstration of the product in use or the results of us all grab attention, provide relevant information, and offer a reason for purchase. Such information also provides a solid foundation for effective communications. Decades ago, Rosser Reeves advocated spending on the search for or creation of a “unique selling proposition” (USP) as the underpinning of successful branding. Branding must start with the product, and anyone charged with building a brand must influence the product offering if they are to be successful.
It is axiomatic that price drives revenue. The financial performance of the brand, including the return on brand-building expenses and cash flow, is a direct function of the margin(s) that a brand can command in the market. Asking a brand manager to be responsible for financial performance without providing that manager with control of the selling price is nonsensical. And, price is not just about margins and revenue; price is often a critical element of brand identity signaling quality, value, prestige, economy, or other dimensions that almost always contribute to the consumer’s purchase decision.
Finally, there is the matter of distribution, that is, how the customer will acquire the product. In the formative years of the marketing discipline distribution was at the heart of marketing with a focus on processes and institutions for matching supply and demand in efficient and convenient fashion. Thus, it is somewhat remarkable that distribution is no longer a primary responsibility of most marketing organizations. Distribution matters, in part, because consumers cannot buy products they cannot (conveniently) obtain. But distribution also influences sales volume, price, and brand identity.
Organizations that are serious about brand building and want a return from branding efforts need to align the responsibilities of those responsible for brand management with their job description(s) and decision rights. Successful branding requires integration across a broad array of activities; it is a general management function, not a staff function. Holding marketers responsible for financial performance requires giving brand managers profit and loss (P&L) responsibility and the authority to make the decisions that influence the bottom line.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by Dr. David Stewart, Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Business Law, Loyola Marymount University, Author, Financial Dimensions Of Marketing Decisions.
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