John Piccone: CMO vs CAdO

I started as a data entry clerk, got into advertising at 21 through a Swiss company building unified newspaper buying systems. That parent company invested in one of the first online ad serving companies, Real Media, which became 24 Seven Real Media and then Zaxxas. I did 10 years in Lausanne and Paris running Real Media Europe. Adform is the ad tech platform I am now with as Regional VP Americas.

Chief marketing officers are not chief advertising officers. We often think that. But they are not. So get up to speed on what CMOs are really thinking about in their day-to-day and understand the role of media and advertising, and then place it in the consideration set of what a brand CMO thinks about in the time they spend thinking about media and advertising.

The first question is: does this company I am going to choose for my future have marketing knowledge? Companies that truly understand what CMOs are dealing with, not just the advertising piece, will win more budget. The technology is a means to a CMO end. The end is commercial growth, brand equity, customer experience.

It was easy because you were first in. If you could listen to what somebody wanted and you had the kit in roughly what they needed, it was easy to get started. Then to keep them right became the game. The relationships built in those early days in Lausanne and Paris became foundations that lasted decades.

The industry will continue to consolidate. The platforms that understand the full CMO agenda rather than just the advertising slice will win. AI will change the execution layer faster than most expect. But the fundamental challenge of understanding what a marketer is trying to achieve and making it easier to achieve it: that does not change.