Goodbye CMO. Hello Chief Growth Officer | François Bazini

From Chief Marketing Officer to Chief Growth Officer. New Label or New Reality? What’s the future of marketing?Filiberto interviews François Bazini, former CMO Europe at Suntory, about how the CMO role is changing and why some companies relabel it as a Chief Growth Officer. François recounts his global FMCG career (Danone, PepsiCo, Suntory) and contrasts functional marketing leadership with P&L general management, arguing that strong CMOs act as “brand CEOs” who own trade-offs across top line, bottom line, capital, and time horizons. He says CMOs often fail by avoiding ROI discussions or shifting spend to only what’s easily measurable, overemphasising short-term activation over long-term brand building. He also argues that CMOs must be brand stewards while improving ROI credibility by reframing returns around equity and pricing power, and advises marketers to build both “PowerPoint and Excel” skills and to speak the finance, supply chain, HR, and commercial languages.00:00 Meet François Bazini02:42 From CMO to P&L Leader06:00 Brand CEO Mindset10:56 ROI Trap and Brand Stewardship23:08 Chief Growth Officer: The Future This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.filibertoamati.com/subscribe