CMOs need more than a seat at the table
Atul Raja argues CMOs gain real influence by linking customer insight, commercial decisions and brand-building before the brief is written.
By the time a campaign brief reaches an agency, many of the biggest marketing decisions may already be locked in. In a new column for ETBrandEquity, brand strategist Atul Raja argues this is today’s CMO tension: expectations have expanded faster than authority.
01 · A seat is not the same as influence
Raja points out that chief marketing officers are now expected to deliver leads, build brands, understand consumers, use AI well and prove commercial impact. Yet decisions about whom a product is for, what it costs, where it is sold and why buyers should choose it often happen before marketing arrives. If the CMO was not in that room, even a strong campaign can struggle to recover.
Marketing may have a seat at the table, he writes; the real test is whether it has a voice.
02 · Customers experience the organisation, not the campaign
Consider an Indian university. Its advertising may promise transformation, but the prospective student’s experience also depends on the website, admissions counsellors, campus facilities, faculty and placements. A broken enquiry form or an unanswered call can unravel a polished promise. The CMO may not own all these functions, but someone must connect them and bring the customer’s experience into leadership conversations.
Raja’s examples show how brand claims become believable when customers can verify them. Tanishq introduced the Karatmeter so buyers could check gold purity in store, turning a trust problem into tangible proof. Former Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar helped extend Priceless beyond advertising into experiences and multisensory branding. Neither leader acted alone; both worked across teams to make the brand tangible.
03 · Build a scorecard before the budget debate
The boardroom rewards the language of business. A CMO who talks mainly about impressions and engagement can lose the attention of a CEO worried about market share and a CFO concerned about margins. Instead, marketing leaders should connect their work to customer acquisition, repeat purchase, pricing power and future demand, and be honest that some results show up this month while brand confidence compounds over years.
That leads to a practical fix:
- Short-term commercial indicators: enquiries and repeat purchase.
- Long-term brand health: brand strength, customer experience and pricing power.
- One shared scorecard: agree the metrics before the campaign starts, not when the budget is under scrutiny.
04 · Technology still needs judgement
AI can accelerate customer analysis, creative testing and response. But if every competitor uses the same tools to make the same messages, the result may be more content and less distinction. Raja argues that human judgement becomes more valuable: knowing which customer problem matters, which idea deserves investment and when a brand should take a stand.
Dove’s #StopTheBeautyTest campaign in India is the example. Launched when Priya Nair led HUL’s beauty and personal care business, it addressed appearance-based judgements in matchmaking, used real stories and extended the message into matrimonial platforms. It carried Dove’s point of view into a conversation Indian women were already living.
05 · What this means for marketing teams
For Indian CMOs and brand leaders, the piece is less a debate between brand building and business leadership and more a call to blend them. Product, pricing, experience and brand promise all sit on the same P&L. The CMO who connects them builds a voice that lasts.
Source: ETBrandEquity.com
