The New Marketing Realities

The marketplace is dramatically different from even 10 years ago, with new
marketing behaviors, opportunities, and challenges emerging. In this book we
focus on three transformative forces: technology, globalization, and social
responsibility.

Technology
The pace of change and the scale of technological achievement can be staggering.
The number of mobile phones in India recently exceeded 500 million, Facebook’s
monthly users passed 1 billion, and more than half of African urban residents
were able to access the Internet monthly.23 With the rapid rise of e-commerce,
the mobile Internet, and Web penetration in emerging markets, the Boston
Consulting Group believes brand marketers must enhance their “digital balance
sheets.” 24 Massive amounts of information and data about almost everything
are now available to consumers and marketers. In fact, technology research
specialists Gartner predicts that by 2017, CMOs will spend more time on
information technology (IT) than chief information officers (CIOs). Aetna’s
CMO and CIO have already collaborated successfully for years, launching new
products and services including iTriage, a popular health app for the iPhone.
With iTriage, users can research ailments, find nearby physicians, and learn
about prescribed medicines.25 Procter & Gamble (P&G) is determined to stay
ahead of technology trends.

Globalization refers to the spread of the flow of financial products, goods,

technology, information, and jobs across national borders and cultures. In
economic terms, it describes an interdependence of nations around the globe
fostered through free trade.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Globalization is the spread of products, technology, information, and

jobs across nations.
 Corporations in developed nations can gain a competitive edge through
globalization.
 Developing countries also benefit through globalization as they tend to
be more cost-effective and therefore attract jobs.
 The benefits of globalization have been questioned as the positive
effects are not necessarily distributed equally.
  One clear result of globalization is that an economic downturn in one
country can create a domino effect through its trade partners.
Understanding Globalization
Corporations gain a competitive advantage on multiple fronts through
globalization. They can reduce operating costs by manufacturing abroad, buy
raw materials more cheaply because of the reduction or removal of tariffs,
and most of all, they gain access to millions of new consumers.

Globalization is a social, cultural, political, and legal phenomenon. 

 Socially, it leads to greater interaction among various populations.

 Culturally, globalization represents the exchange of ideas, values, and
artistic expression among cultures.
 Globalization also represents a trend toward the development of a
single world culture. 
 Politically, globalization has shifted attention to intergovernmental
organizations like the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
 Legally, globalization has altered how international law is created and
enforced.

 Since the industrial revolution, participation of women in the workforce outside the home

has increased in industrialized nations, with particularly large growth seen in the 20th
century. Largely seen as a boon for industrial society, women in the workforce contribute to a
higher national economic output as measure in GDP as well as decreasing labor costs by
increasing the labor supply in a society.
 Women's lack of access to higher education had effectively excluded them from the practice
of well-paid and high status occupations. Entry of women into the higher professions,
like law and medicine, was delayed in most countries due to women being denied entry to
universities and qualification for degrees. For example, Cambridge University only fully
validated degrees for women late in 1947, and even then only after much opposition and
acrimonious debate.[1] Women were largely limited to low-paid and poor status occupations
for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, or earned less pay than men for doing the same
work.[citation needed] However, through the 20th century, the labor market shifted. Office work that
does not require heavy labor expanded and women increasingly acquired the higher
education that led to better-compensated, longer-term careers rather than lower-skilled,
shorter-term jobs. Mothers are less likely to be employed unlike men and women without
children.[2]
 The increasing rates of women contributing in the work force has led to a more equal
disbursement of hours worked across the regions of the world.[3][failed verification] However, in
 western European countries the nature of women's employment participation remains
markedly different from that of men.

It’s a question on the mind of change-makers and equality-minded business leaders across the
marketing universe: Where does equity stand in the industry — gender, race and otherwise —
and how can we keep pushing it forward? We combined data on gender and jobs from LinkedIn's
platform with research from ANA, McKinsey and others to look into this question.

Let’s start out with some positive news: In North America, the gender split for marketing roles
features strong female representation, with new data showing that 60% of professionals
occupying this function are women.

Better yet, women are successfully ascending the ladder, accounting for 53% of director-level or
higher positions, and 59% of manager-level positions. 

Now, the bad news: racial diversity among these roles is lagging behind, and pretty significantly.
While 52% of Chief Marketing Officers are women, only 13% of all CMOs have racially diverse
backgrounds, a field that includes Asian, Latina and Black women.

While the percentage of women CMOs rose from 2019 to 2020 (47% to 52%), the percentage of
racially diverse CMOs actually declined. Black women, in particular, are struggling to advance. 

The following infographic digs a little deeper into the state of gender and racial diversity in
marketing today, with an eye on identifying key opportunities.

(An important caveat before we get started: Gender identity isn’t binary and we recognize that
some LinkedIn members identify beyond the traditional gender constructs of “male” and
“female.” However, LinkedIn gender data is inferred on the basis of first name and pronouns,
both used and implied, and currently does not account for other gender identities. As members
begin to self-report gender, we will be able to share more inclusive gender data.)

Women in Marketing Are Taking Charge

Anyone who’s watched an episode of Mad Men has a concept of how problematic the gender
(and racial) imbalance of power and equity in marketing was in the not-too-distant past. Through
this lens, these numbers are encouraging:

 In North America, women have higher representation than men in marketing roles, 60% to 40%.
This contrasts the overall professional pool, which slightly favors men at 53% to 47%.
 The contrast is even starker when you start zeroing in on leadership roles. While women hold
53% of all director-plus-level roles in marketing, this is true for just 37% of such roles in the
overall cross-functional sample. For manager-level positions, the disparity is 59% to 41%.