Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative

Citation

Roy, A. (2009), "Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 6, pp. 460-461. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760910988283

Silos: … ..a tall self‐contained, usually sealed cylinder that often contains commodities (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2008)

Whether one drives through Route 66 in the USA or through the roads of any farm fields, it is difficult to ignore the tall metal fabricated cylinders that farmers use for storing their grains after a harvest before they go to market. David Aaker uses the term as a metaphor for organizational units that contain their own management team and talent and lack the motivation or desire to work with or even communicate with other organizational units in the company.

Based on his consulting work for the consultancy Prophet, Professor Aaker emphasizes the importance of contact and co‐operation among products, countries, or functions which more often than not operate in isolation. The winners in the twenty‐first century business world are most likely to avoid the “frog‐in‐the‐well” syndrome and look far beyond the confines of their silos in comprehending the bigger picture. Rather than pigeonholing their brands and marketing programs, they are more likely to create programs that avoid inefficiencies, waste and brands with ambiguous identities.

In many ways, Spanning Silos is reminiscent and an extension of the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) introduced over three decades ago, which is designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that individual and consistent over time. Since then, James Hulbert, Noel Capon, and Nigel Percy have proposed the total integrated marketing concept, emphasizing marketing's importance, and having it work in tandem with every other departments, from finance to service. Aaker's book further highlights the significance of breaking unnecessary barriers for enhancing brand‐building programs, as well as providing superior customer offerings and strengthening relationships with buyers.

The “Introduction” chapter mandates and explains the need for a chief marketing officer (CMO) in any organization. After a definition of the term, several types of silos are discussed, namely, product and country silos, brand portfolios, and functional marketing silos. Evidence is provided on how the quality of marketing talent and management sophistication is weak and dispersed when silos run their businesses independently and autonomously. The author also discusses the sources of information in coming up with his recommendations for handling silo issues: his own past research, his consulting with major corporations, and, most importantly, his own in‐depth interviews with CEOs and CMOs of 40 major firms. Finally, a roadmap is provided to guide the reader through the contents of the remaining seven chapters.

Chapter 1 recommends that the CMO find an appropriate role and scope, which may vary over activities and over time, which is critical to their success or even survival. These five roles which reveal various levels of influence and authority could be those of a facilitator, consultant, service provider, strategic partner, and strategic captain. The selection of country, product, and functional scope of the CMO team should balance focus and scale.

The second chapter recommends that the CMO gain credibility and involvement in order to be heard and to influence. This can be achieved in gaining the CEO's support; acquiring customer knowledge by “immersion research” by being with them as they shop and use the product; demonstrating tangible successes by being persuasive and visible; respecting and engaging silo units by listening, learning and developing relationships with them; by upgrading the marketing staff by ensuring that they are knowledgeable about the product, market, organization and brand; and by hiring employees who can create a optimistic environment within the company.

Chapter 3, “Use Teams and Other Routes to Silo Linking,” traces the success of IMC cross silo teams and notes that the chances of success are enhanced by having a strong brand strategy driving the effort, a strong strategic leader, a compensation system that is team based, and a team drawn from a single firm. Four factors are suggested as keys to building effective and successful teams: clarity of mission, finding the right people, competent leadership, and the ability to deal with different cultures. The importance of managing cross silo virtual teams via audio and video conferencing, e‐mailing, instant messaging, intranets, etc. are also highlighted.

The next chapter recommends that firms “Develop a common planning process and information system”, for two major reasons‐ to have a basis for communications by creating a common vocabulary, measures, information and decision structures, as well as enabling the firm to inculcate a minimum level of professionalism across the silo units. A six‐component model of the silo process is suggested, which includes market/self‐analysis, business strategy, and silo market strength as part of the silo strategic analysis, and brand strategy and marketing programs as silo marketing strategy components. The system is moderated by a silo spanning information system which enhances cross‐silo synergies and efficiencies. The author cites Hewlett Packard's Customer Experience Council and Proctor & Gamble's global marketing officer's leadership team as good examples of powerful vehicles for creating consistency and synergy.

In Chapters 5 and 6, he comes back to his favorite theme of brands and branding. Chapter 5 begins with the advantages of standardized branding and then explores circumstances under which adaptation might be preferable. Five major approaches to adapting the master brand to silo contexts is then suggested, as well as a comparison of the top‐down versus bottom‐up process of generating a strategy for a silo‐spanning brand. Several examples of standardized campaigns that originated outside the USA were identified, e.g. McDonald's “I'm Lovin' it” came from Germany, and Pantene's “Hair is so healthy, it shines” came from Taiwan.

The main recommendation in Chapter 6 is to prioritize brands in the portfolio through disciplined methods and to think critically regarding the use of sub‐brands and endorsed brands. The identification, prioritization and leveraging of the key master brands is vital to the success of the firm, although the peripheral brands should also be assigned specific roles. The author also cheers CMOs to explore brand extension frameworks that best help select products and countries where these endeavors are to take place.

Chapter 7 focuses on the control and evaluation mechanism via “silo audits.” The scope and authority of a silo marketing team, the number of communication partners, and the allocation of resources should all be addressed during this process. The concluding chapter of the book ends with recommendations for the CMO's first three months in office. Fourteen dimensions, each measured on a ten‐point scale are recommended as a road map for a comprehensive audit of the silo world.

The examples used throughout the book are current and fascinating (especially the one's when the “silos” won!), and they are based on the author's wealth of consulting experiences with Fortune 50 organizations. There are several reading aids, e.g. figures, charts, key points, bold bullets, summaries, etc. for the busy executives to whom this book is primarily targeted. Each chapter begins with an inspirational quote from former and contemporary leaders, e.g. Confucius, Churchill, Einstein, Eisenhower, Welch, etc. as well as from the Aesop's Fables. Although the lessons are directed at businesses, they are also applicable to other sectors such as government, e.g. a need for better coordination between the Defense Department and the State Department or between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

This book is much shorter than, and is not as pedagogical as the author's half a dozen premier books on branding and advertising, and yet is perhaps the most significant and pragmatic one to date. The intended audiences are CMOs, although the book can be used in a graduate or a capstone business policy undergraduate course, as the author provides a few (between three to six) discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Although, it is not explicitly stated in the text, the lessons also have implications for designing future courses in the business curriculum. Should there be a greater emphasis on cross‐functional classes, given the urgent need for future managers to learn the art of “spanning silos”?

Overall, David Aaker's Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative, is a fascinating book full of nuggets from both from Fortune 50 as well as not so well known companies, supported by inspiring quotes from distinguished luminaries juxtaposed with insightful commentaries by the author. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in search of stimulating, yet avant‐garde ideas to succeed in today's hypercompetitive world. So, silos are best suited for grain or feed storage and not as organizational units. After reading this book, one is tempted to adapt Ronald Reagan's quote in 1987 at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin to General Secretary Gorbachev, “Mr. / Ms. CMO…tear down these silos … ”

“Spanning silos” is indeed the new mantra for the CMOs in the new millennium.