Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) have a notoriously short lifespan. But some allegedly good news was just reported by John Quelch in Harvard Business Publishing:

Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are holding on to their jobs longer. Spencer Stuart’s annual survey of CMO tenure at the 100 most advertised brands in the USA reveals average time on the job has risen to 28.4 months from 26.8 months in 2007 and 23.2 months in 2006.

I guess that’s good news. I mean, if the doctor says you have 28.4 months to live instead of 23.2, wouldn’t you be grateful for those extra few months? Still, a little over two years on the job is not that long, especially given the challenging work of understanding a company’s brands, customers,  markets, pricing and more.

Quelch attributes the extended lifespan to CMOs aligning better with their CEO. I agree, but here’s another idea: constant turnover hurts. It’s hard for a CMO to come into a company and operate at full speed when the company’s marketing strategy must be reviewed and revised. And then have another one come in a couple of years later.

During those times I’m serving as a company’s CMO, I try to kick off a few short-term projects that can produce measurable results while simultaneously addressing long term marketing strategy and aligning it with business objectives. The quick hit projects produce early wins and keeps the wolves away from the door.