Four CES Themes That Show What Every Savvy CMO Needs To Do Next -- Ambition, Advocacy, Alchemy and Acceleration

This article, the first in a two-part series, highlights some observations about the first two themes in that quartet.

Ambition

There was no shortage of unbridled ambition during CES, from the awe-inspiring future of mobility robotics to new ways to address sustainability through the power of tech.

The audacity of dreaming big and delivering on it opens the mind to novel ways of problem-solving. Now more than ever, CMOs must inject positive energy and galvanize teams to move forward and express new products and processes through the intersectional language of technology, data and story.

However, it is critical that CMOs demonstrate savvy ambition. They need to consider the 360-degree implication of each new innovation including understanding privacy and security considerations. Marketers need to penetrate the "shiny new object" syndrome by asking three key questions:

• What is the most critical problem hindering growth?
• Does the new tech solve that problem?
• What evidence supports customer adoption, and at what cost?

As CMOs answer these questions, they need to address some of the key impediments to 21st century economic growth. Some of the headwinds were discussed  when CTA CEO and President Gary Shapiro sat down with NASDAQ President and CEO, Adena Friedman during the "Great Minds: The Future of the 21st Century Economy" session.

Marketing leaders must have a seat at the table during discussions about supply-chain management and how the geopolitical landscape will influence decisions on nearshoring and regionalization. Those issues relate to production costs, go-to-market strategies and the ultimate customer experience.

CMOs can no longer wait passively for such decisions to be made by chief operating officers. Instead, they need to strategically voice how the wrong supply-chain decisions can completely derail a customer's journey and therefore impede growth.

Marketers must also understand what digital transformation means for their organization. It is often tempting to over-define it or become overly ambitious about its scale of impact. CMOs need to push for a simple and clarifying definition. Here's one to consider:

Lastly, in the war for tech talent, marketing leaders have an opportunity to bolster their employer branding efforts by putting an emphasis on meaning over money, flexibility over fridges filled with Red Bull, and purpose over perks.

Advocacy

For the first time in its 56-year history, CES 2023 had a theme: human security for all. The organization behind the show, the Consumer Technology Association, partnered with the World Academy of Art and Science and the United Nations to showcase the critical role of technology in addressing this issue.

Globally, there is a heightened awareness of the urgency to limit global warming and protect natural resources and biodiversity. And at CES we saw many companies making commitments to building sustainable products, developing ecologically sound supply chains and slowing emissions. They ranged from Austin-based Pivet's biodegradable phone cases to electric watercraft company Candela unveiling a 28-foot electric speedboat to a water-purification method from the Ukrainian start-up Melt Water Club.

There were also innovations that were focused on using biology itself as inspiration for sustainability. For example, Neoplants are said to be 30 times more effective in removing indoor air pollutants than a typical house plant.

The sustainability angle was evident across every nook and cranny at the show. To make sense of the plethora of green-centric introductions, the table below categorizes some of the most prominent examples of innovation by its sustainability objective: to conserve, to adapt, or to mitigate.

Vegas has been the home of mesmerizing tech experiences for many decades and many hopped on the eco-story bandwagon for "green" measure this year. As one great Vegas act once reminded us with the rhythmic line "a little less conversation, a little more action please," CMOs have the opportunity to turn this sustainability hype into the grit of high-performance that is authentic, transparent and highly quantifiable.

Read Part 2 of this article here.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.