Commercial acumen and revenue generation

Our #1 CMO of the Year, Guzman y Gomez global CMO, Lara Thom, is one of many marketing chiefs who highlight how critical it is for marketers to connect the dots between marketing work and the top and bottom line.

“The attribute I expect modern marketers to have is the ability to connect ALL marketing projects or campaigns to both brand and revenue generation,” she says.

MYOB chief commercial officer, Dean Chadwick, plus TPG CMO Bec Darley, equally prize commercial acumen as one of their top marketing attributes. “You gotta know the numbers that drive your business,” Darley says.

“Today’s marketers are no longer just brand storytellers – we should strive to be strategic growth partners embedded at the heart of business decision-making,” continues Freedom Furniture GM of marketing and franchisees, Jason Piggott. “The best marketers – right down to the most junior levels – can connect creativity with commercial outcomes. It means understanding how marketing activity directly impacts revenue, margin, market share, and customer value. And it’s about being able to articulate that impact at whatever table you are sitting at.

“In a retail environment where every dollar must drive performance, commercial acumen allows marketers to shift from being seen as cost centres to growth engines. It brings a stronger voice to the boardroom and ensures marketing strategies are aligned with broader business goals. Whether it's forecasting the ROI of a loyalty campaign, defending brand investment in a volatile economy, or balancing short-term conversion with long-term equity, commercially minded marketers will lead the charge in proving that brand and business growth are two sides of the same coin.”

A curious mind

Then there’s the soft skill of curiosity so prized by many of our CMOs.

“Curiosity is essential to becoming truly consumer centric, judging your work objectively and raising the bar continuously,” says Uber and Uber Eats CMO APAC, Andy Morley. Intrepid president of the Americas and former chief customer officer, Leigh Barnes, couldn’t agree more.

“The attribute is curiosity: You've got to be able to problem solve and make the solution happen,” he says.

ANZ Bank GM marketing, Sian Chadwick also values curiosity, along with marketers demonstrating “a point of view”, while Blackmores chief innovation, brand and communications officer, Joanne Smith, positions curiosity as the cornerstone of a learning mindset.

“Marketers who are curious and also open minded and have a desire for continuous learning, start by asking the right questions  and seeking broad perspectives before jumping to conclusions and solutions,” she comments. “Curious marketers often uncover deeper insights into consumer behaviour, are future focused, and strategic but also understand how to execute with excellence. I love this attribute in marketers because it fuels creativity and more informed and effective decision-making.”

Amaysim CMO, Pete Macgregor, goes one further, saying the best marketers are “passionately inquisitive”.

“That’s about the data, the customer, the creative, the hypothesis, how could we make something better. Basically, anything you work on,” he adds.

Thriving in ambiguity

Both Optus VP of consumer marketing, Cam Luby, and Origin chief customer officer, Catherine Anderson, are cognisant of how regularly marketing’s value and job can change, and therefore value a marketer’s ability to thrive and prosper in ambiguity.

“You must be able to navigate the grey zones,” says Luby. REA Group GM marketing and audience, Sarah Myers, labels this “agility’, while both Michael Hill Jeweller CMO, Jo Feeney, and Australian Centre for AI in Marketing co-founder and former World Vision Australia CMO, Louise Cummins, link this to the core need for marketers to exhibit adaptability.

“Not just to the trends, but to ambiguity,” Cummins says. “The marketers who thrive aren’t just reacting fast; they’re rewiring how they think, learn, and lead in real time.”

Former Officeworks GM of customer and online, Jessica Richmond sees the practical application of this attribute as experimentation. “It’s that ability to quickly test, learn and evolve based on results,” she says.

Resilience

Being able to thrive in the face of constant change requires resilience. The Arnott’s Group CMO, Jenni Dill is keen to see marketers exhibit resilience and tenacity to work through setbacks and around obstacles to deliver what is needed.

“In the absence of a crystal ball, shaping the future certainly requires it,” she says.

Commonwealth Bank CMO, Jo Boundy also notes marketing is an ever changing, high stakes and high visibility game. “Customer expectations are rightly high – they want instant responses and flawless experiences. In order to stand out, you have to think big and innovate,” she says. “You might not always get it right, but how you learn from the missteps and adapt quickly is the key to growth and success.”

Courage of one’s convictions

Then there’s the very real need for marketers to be courageous and stand behind the decision they’re making. Telstra CMO, Brent Smart, calls this conviction.

“Stakeholders aren’t going to believe if you don’t,” he says.

Reflections Holidays CMO, Peter Chapman is of the same opinion. “The attribute I prize the most is the ability to make the call and defend it,” he says.

Youi CMO, Angela Greenwood, ties this back to having vision as a marketer. “I believe marketers play a strong role in orientating their businesses confidently into the future and our vision is powerful when it’s woven seamlessly into the overall business strategy,” she comments.

Kennards Hire GM of marketing and customer, Manelle Merhi, tallies this up to one word: “Grit”.

“The ability to preserve through challenge, to keep striving with passion to achieve the long-term goals, be it for self/career, for the brand, for the business – only people with grit can really break through the mediocre level of marketing,” she believes. “It takes a real focus to drown out the noise.”

That doesn’t mean forgoing marketing principles however. Tourism Australia CMO, Susan Coghill highlights these as an essential attribute underpinning execution.

“It’s about a strong understand of the enduring principles of marketing before jumping to tactics and technology,” she says.

Storytelling

Focus, plus demonstrating true storytelling ability, says Pernod Ricard marketing director ANZ, Kristy Rutherford.

“That includes the skills to adapt it to its many useful forms – creative, commercial, data, passionate rally-cries, business,” she says.

This is critical given how important stakeholder engagement is to the modern marketing team, says Destination NSW GM of consumer marketing, Kathryn Illy.

“I think we may have forgotten how to engage. As technology continues to develop, we need to come back to the basic principles of how to build relationships and engage with stakeholders – picking up a phone and having a face-to-face conversation,” she says.

Summing this up, IAG chief customer and marketing officer, Michelle Klein says the attribute she values is “range”.

“The ability to turn insight into impact, to move seamlessly from customer truths to commercial outcomes, to know which levers drive growth, and translate creativity into numbers the CFO respects. The best marketers are builders: Curious, commercially sharp, brave enough to challenge, collaborative enough to bring others with them, and committed to growing themselves and the business,” she says.