CRM & Marketing Automation

In a time where it seems everyone is focused on marketing, why are some of the biggest companies restructuring to, effectively, remove their Chief Marketing Officers?In June, pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson’s CMO decided to step down, having been in a successful capacity with the company for over six years. Rather than replacing like-for-like, they decided to remodel the business, in doing so, removing the role to pave way for a ‘Growth Marketing Officer’.They have followed suit of some fairly successful names, like Hyatt, Lyft and that little-known brand, Coca-Cola.It’s become, arguably, one of the hottest new C-Level roles, and certainly one for anyone in a senior marketing position to consider.So, what is a Growth Marketing Officer, and what makes them tick?Well, to put it in the most basic terms, a GMO (or CGO – ‘Chief Growth Officer’) is in charge of exactly what you’d expect: growth. Growing the company’s branding, branching out into new markets, just as you’d expect a marketing role to do. But growth focuses on some aspects you would perhaps ignore as a traditional ‘marketeer’.They will add value with things such as customer retention, they will usually be a data-driven individual, keeping an eye on revenue increase, and comfortable doing a lot of analytical work. Rather than using their experience in the industry, or ‘gut feeling’, they will now pick apart data trends; noticing that it’s not just ‘good marketing practice’ to schedule social media posts for a specific time, or day, but actually is rhyme and reason to it.The Growth Marketing Officer slice and dice data to figure out what strategy is in fact working for their brand.They will also be creatively minded; they will be the ones to say “let’s give it a try” rather than “we’ve never done it that way before”. They will not be afraid of something falling down, if it doesn’t work then they will try another way – always looking to open new doors.They will be responsible for overseeing the brand marketing, having to take charge of multiple projects at once – deadlines shouldn’t be something that scare them, but excite them.As the need for growth continues to evolve and grow (ironically), more and more companies and clients are hiring GMO’s it’s important to align all of the functions – creativity, data driven, unafraid of failure, able to multitask, and more – and hiring a Growth Marketing Officer who can deliver this is vital.Mike Thompsett, Global Marketing Manager at Adaptive Business Group said: “The world of marketing is forever changing, and we’ve noticed that large amounts of our clients are exploring new opportunities to keep up with it – it’s so important not to be left behind.”“Whether it’s for a new, exciting start up or an established tech company, it’s become an increasingly attractive position for CEOs to invest in. They need to ensure they are hiring in the right market to keep their company exploring new markets and continue in the right direction.”Adaptive Digital globally with a large focus on the US and EMEA markets for digital marketing and ecommerce professionals, filling roles with brands & agencies in more than 20 countries.To view Adaptive Digital’s full range of open jobs, click here.

This year saw some landmark acquisitions in the digital commerce and communications industry – we review the highlights (so far). With the month of December still left to play out, 2018 has witnessed some big moves in the merger and acquisition arena across the digital marketing and ecommerce sectors.Despite competition for investment dollars from emerging peripheral markets (notably AI and blockchain), e-retail platforms, digital marketing services and payment solutions all attracted major attention from both trade and strategic buyers.With 7 acquisitions at $1bn+ closed in H1 2018 alone, several of the alliances struck throughout the year are set to alter the commercial landscape for some time to come.Here’s our pick of the standout deals of the year so far:Walmart buys FlipkartUS retail giant Walmart splashed out $16bn to acquire a 77 percent stake in Flipkart, India’s largest online retailer.Seen by analysts as a strategic move to keep pace with other e-retail heavyweights (chiefly Amazon, who moved onto Walmart’s home turf of in-store grocery shopping with their purchase of Whole Foods), the deal included $2bn of new equity funding for growth and left the door open for Flipkart to go public at a later date.Adobe buys MarketoAfter being delisted from the NASDAQ in 2016 by Vista Equity Partners for $1.8bn, Marketo found a new home for a hefty $4.75bn as Adobe looked to fortify their digital marketing offering (Experience Cloud) to keep pace with competitors Salesforce, HubSpot, Oracle and SAP. Beginning life as recently as 2006, Marketo added marketing automation to the Adobe product suite as part of a rapidly-expanding digital experience portfolio.Twilio buys SendGrid  Variously described as an ‘engagement’ or ‘communications’ platform, Twilio offered developer-focused capabilities in channels covering voice, video, chat, SMS, social media and connected devices – with the addition of email marketing specialist SendGrid for $2bn in stock, a key gap was plugged (albeit for a price that stunned many onlookers). With the acquisition slated to close in the first half of 2019, combined revenues could be north of $700m by that point. Silver Lake buys ZooplaCarrying property listings for nearly 15,000 estate agency branches, Zoopla has been a dominant force in the UK residential property market and the ‘PropTech’ sector. US PE heavyweight Silver Lake, impressed by the growth of the online platform and its 50 million monthly visits, forked out £2.2bn for the ZPG group of companies – a nice deal for founder Alex Chesterman, who was also behind the LoveFilm movie subscription service acquired by Amazon.WPP & Dentsu splurgeLeading marketing conglomerates WPP and Dentsu Aegis both added to their sprawling portfolios throughout the year. While no single deal made the big news, the two giants got their checkbooks out on a number of occasions.WPP added Hirshron-Zukerman Design Group, Gorilla Group, 2Sale and Emark, creating additional capabilities in fields covering design, marketing technology, Amazon retail services and more, before announcing the merger of JWT and Wunderman to create a new advertising superpower.Dentsu hoovered up Whitespace, Amicus Digital and Global Mind, diversifying service offering whilst also adding headcount in Scotland, Australia and Argentina.PayPal buys iZettleIn May payment superpower PayPal spent $2.2bn to purchase Swedish fintech firm iZettle, adding point-of-sale hardware to its suite of commerce solutions. Timing was tight on the deal, as iZettle had filed for IPO only days before PayPal announced the news.Targeting the small business sector, iZettle uses a mobile-based card reader to allow digital payments, similar to rival Square.The purchase is part of a series of diversification moves by PayPal, who also own P2P payment platform Venmo and business loan provider Swift Financial.Adobe buys MagentoThe only acquiror to appear twice on our list, Adobe showed their ambition with a double-headline year, not only buying Marketo but also scooping up e-commerce platform provider Magento from European PE firm Permira for $2.68bn, a revenue multiple of over 11x.Once again up against Salesforce and Oracle (among others), Adobe saw Magento as a key gap in its ability to provide e-retailers with a comprehensive infrastructure and marketing solution, adding the capability to build, run and market web stores through a single platform provider.***Adaptive Digital recruits across Europe and the USA for digital marketing and ecommerce professionals, filling roles with brands & agencies in more than 20 countries.  To view Adaptive Digital’s full range of open jobs, click here.

Even though clients may get in front of the right people for their business, the interview process itself can be key to a successful ability to bring them on board. Adaptive Digital’s team of consultants have come up with their top tips to get the right offer out as efficiently as possible by optimizing the interview process to keep it consistent, efficient and effective. Interviews are a two-way street: it’s equally as important for prospective candidates and companies to leave a positive impression on one another. It’s a balancing act. On one hand you need to make sure the candidate is the right fit for your company and that everything (skills, suitability, timeframes, salary expectations, etc.) matches up – but it’s also key to make sure they learn enough about your role, culture and teams and are excited to join.