This report brings together insights from a series of in-depth interviews with senior marketing professionals across a wide range of sectors, as well as a comprehensive literature review and case studies. It aims to help marketing leaders rethink the structure of their marketing organisation and its role within business.

Many marketing leaders have been forced to rethink the structure of their marketing teams in order to take advantage of the new capabilities and tools that are available to the modern marketer. Many have also done so as a result of changes in the wider business landscape.

In response to these changes, Econsultancy has published a new unifying framework for modern marketing called the Modern Marketing Model (M3). M3 is designed to reconcile classical and digital marketing and provides a clear reference to help clarify an organisation’s expectations of what the marketing function does.

This research will benefit marketing leaders by providing insight into the changing structure of the marketing organisation. Specifically, this research identifies a number of the most common structures that marketing leaders are using today, which can be used as blueprints in the design of marketing teams.

The report will:

  • Look at how companies are responding in terms of how they structure their marketing organisations to compete in this accelerated new world. This includes examining the remit of marketing in terms of its influence on leading organisational change
  • Examine common organisational structures and how these structures might be understood by marketing leaders through the lens of the Modern Marketing Model (M3)
  • Illustrate and discuss a number of ‘enlightened’ organisational structures that marketing leaders can use as frameworks for leading change within their own organisations.

Econsultancy would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this report:

  • Colin Lewis, CMO, OpenJaw Technologies
  • Andy Evans, CMO, Sovrn
  • Nancy Furber, Senior Marketing Services Manager, Cancer Research
  • Neil McKinnon, Head of Marketing, Infectious Media
  • Attila Jakab, CEO, Infectious Media
  • Tom Daniell, Retail & Marketing Director, Aviva
  • Paul Jocelyn, FLPI, Jocelyn Consulting
  • Simon Swan, Head of Digital Strategy & Transformation, The Met Office UK
  • Chris Dobson, Chief Executive, The Exchange Lab
  • Mark Evans, Marketing Director, Direct Line
  • Tony Preedy, Director of Marketing & International Development, Lakeland
  • Lawrence Mitchell, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer, SumoSalad
  • Russell Gould, CEO, Vesta Property (Based on DAB presentation in December)
  • Alison Lancaster, Interim Marketing Director, House of Fraser (Based on DAB presentation in December)
  • John Smith, Former COO, Burberry & CEO, BBC Worldwide (Based on Oystercatchers Club event in January)
  • John Rudaizky, Partner, Global Brand and Marketing Leader, EY (Based on Oystercatchers Club event in January)
  • Frank Arthofer, Global Head of Digital and New Business, Formula 1 (Based on Oystercatchers Club event in January)
  • Lindsay Pattison, Worldwide CEO, Maxus Global & Worldwide Chief Transformation Officer, Group M (Based on Oystercatchers Club event in January)
  • Neil Perkin, Founder, Only Dead Fish and Co-Author of Building the Agile Business