“FIRE THE CMO! “  In recessionary marketing times, that is the decision of many CEOs—unfortunately it is often the wrong decision. In recent months there has been a string of “resignations.” (Microsoft’s Jeff Bell, AFLAC’s Jeff Herbert, Pepsi’s Cie Nicholson, Sears’ Maureen McGuire, Domino’s Ken Calwell)

 Recently the average tenure for CMO’s has been declining to an all time low of 26 months. In tough times this number gets worse—for all the wrong reasons. Though cutbacks are inevitable, cutting a talented core can often setback a brand more than necessary. If the right talent is on board, CEO’s need the courage to resist the temptation to blame demand and performance on the CMO.

Good CMO’s cut back in tough times but invest in their core team. General Mills may have shrunk the size of its cereal boxes in the face of rising commodity costs, but it hasn’t stopped the company from investing in its people. Mark Addicks, General Mills’ CMO, sends his team to a five-day internal marketing boot camp. This type of investment – taking the team away from their desks for five continuous days – is substantial, both for Mark and his team

 Smart CMO’s take advantage of the slowdowns to get closer to their customers through digital platforms, social networks.  Smarter CMO’s do even more and use the slow period as an opportunity to actually talk to customers. Not just online or in focus groups, but face to face, in the mall and on the jet way. Many will ask their troops to leave the office to systematically meet with customers and consumers and thank them for their business and learn how to keep them loyal.

During good times marketers and agencies are often too busy (a.k.a. too successful) to take the time to make the hard decisions.  So tough times can be a gift to rethink, retool and shift your brand, organization and agency relationships.  Many CMO’s will get the opportunity to make these moves and some will be famous for their results some day—if their CEO and boards will let them.