RECAP: Global CMO Growth Summit 2021
ON DECEMBER 13, 2021 HUNDREDS OF CMO DELEGATES REPRESENTED THEIR ORGANIZATIONS AT THE ANNUAL ANA GLOBAL CMO GROWTH SUMMIT.
This year’s Summit once again brought the industry’s leadership community of CMOs together as a force for action. Since last year’s Summit, CMO working teams organized around industry growth priorities have made unprecedented progress towards their respective mandates. This year, team leaders reviewed highlights of their progress and implications for the marketing community. Then, all together, the assembly prioritized the industry’s leadership initiatives for the year ahead.
NEW THIS YEAR: Plenary Session on Social Media Platforms Given growing concern over social platforms and their implications for brands and consumers, a CMO-only plenary session addressed the situation for the first time together as a leadership community. Leading up to the Summit, options were discussed among top executives at the ANA and its Board of Directors, principal parties at social platforms, and independent regulatory bodies including BBB National Programs and GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media).
DELEGATE BRIEFING
The objective of the Summit was to gain consensus from CMO delegates to inform a directional framework in the U.S. that will help set the standard for the industry’s new social media frontier, mutually benefitting all parties in the global industry and society. The Summit provided a private forum for CMOs to:
- Share insights, concerns, and suggestions with global peers
- Hear from principals who are actively involved in ongoing discussions
- Gain consensus on a desired future state that best suits your company and the people you serve
- Identify the most viable pathways forward that will benefit all parties — brands, platforms, and people
As the head of your organization’s marketing function, it is your responsibility to guide your company through the social media imperative. ANA GlobalCMO Growth Council resources and initiatives will enable you to take the action you need to drive economic growth and advance societal good.
TURNING LEADERSHIP INTO ACTION
Collectively, the chief marketers and leaders of the Global CMO Growth Council are committed to immediate actions to achieve the following outcomes:
1. OPTIMIZE THE DIGITAL MEDIA SUPPLY CHAIN
Return $10 billion in savings back into working investments that drive growth. They will do so by each taking specific measures to streamline their digital media supply chains. These actions will reduce financial inefficiency and risk exposure for their brands and consumers.
2. BRANDS FOR HUMANS (B4H)
Revolutionize the role of marketing as B4H (Brands for Humans) along with a universal measure for the financial value of a brand that will be adopted globally among both corporations and academia.
3. DIVERSE TALENT PIPELINE
Establish a robust and reliable talent pipeline that is a diverse and inclusive reflection of the marketplace, locally and globally.
4. DATA AND TECHNOLOGY OPTIMIZATION
Derive full performance potential from the massive investments in data and technology by bringing their marketing organizations up to a best practice-level of readiness as related to company capabilities, culture, and operational agility.
5. EQUALITY AND INCLUSION
Use marketing to promote equality and inclusion to achieve a better world for humanity and more growth and value for business.
- Achieve equal representation in the media and creative supply chain.
- Eliminate systemic investment inequalities in the media and creative supply chain.
- Eliminate bias and racism by accurately portraying all humanity in advertising, content and media.
- Eliminate hateful and harmful content online
6. CROSS-PLATFORM MEASURE
Create an industry-wide solution for cross-platform measurement that will allow brands to reach full potential from media investments in a transparent and efficient way, in a secure environment.
7. MEDIA ECOSYSTEM
Overhaul our media ecosystem. Makeover the upfront process, align on KPIs, drive transparency in cross-media measurement, self-regulate commercial load, and ensure diversity, equality, and inclusion on all levels of the ecosystem.

Exercise your PRIVILEGED responsibility as a member of the ANA Global CMO Growth Council
Over 1,200 CMOs from around the world are working together to drive good and growth through marketing. Become a member today, and turn your leadership into action.
IMPLICATIONS
Your effort will help launch new policies, practices, decisions, and strategies that will address industry-wide shortfalls in business performance.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
As the head of your organization’s marketing function, you have a priviledged responsibility to ensure that your brand, and your business fully participate in the industry-wide mandates established by the Global CMO Growth Council to accelerate economic growth and societal good.
ACTION REQUIRED
Join with the global CMO community in driving change. Together, as a global eadership body of chief marketers, we will use our collective clout in the business community to turn this international moment of reckoning into an organized movement that will accelerate enduring economic and societal growth.