Franchise Update Magazine Issue II, 2013 | Page 36

Grow Market Lead

By Kerry Pipes

Data-Driven Marketer
David Buckley blends the old with the new

D

avid Buckley is a busy marketing executive. He’s responsible for development,
planning, and execution of
the consumer marketing strategies for not
just one, but four retail chains under the
Sears label. He also oversees marketing
efforts for the brand’s more than 1,200
locations. Before taking the CMO post
with Sears, Buckley spent time as global
director of advertising for the Associated
Press, where he led the advertising strategy for digital assets, focusing on mobile
and tablet technologies.
Note: For Buckley’s views on how
the CMO role can enhance franchise
recruitment, see our online newsletter, Franchise Update Sales Report
(May 2013).
Describe your role as CMO. As

CMO for Sears Hometown & Outlet
Stores, Inc., I am responsible for the
consumer marketing strategies for four
unique formats: Sears Hometown Stores,
Sears Home Appliance Showrooms, Sears
Appliance & Hardware Stores, and Sears
Outlet Stores. With more than 1,200
locations across 50 states and Puerto
Rico, my team and I are tasked to execute a national marketing strategy that
also leverages the hyper-local aspect of
retailing. We plan and execute marketing campaigns across a wide variety of
marketing assets, including newspaper
(preprint, ROP, TMC), radio, cable TV,
billboard, and direct mail. In addition,
what we market in traditional media
needs to be integrated into digital
media, social media, and our loyalty
marketing program.
What’s the most challenging part of being a CMO
today? There are more new

and exciting marketing opportunities than any organization has the capacity properly
to execute. The job is less
about finding a good idea,

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but rather finding ideas that are both
scalable and likely to produce a higher
marginal ROI than current programs. A
large part of this is understanding and
prioritizing our marketing approaches
within our strategy.
What are the 3 most important
keys to being an effective CMO
leader today? By far, the ability to

understand data. There is an amazing
amount of customer data available that
can be used to drive large strategic decisions, as well as more targeted offers at
the consumer level. An effective CMO
today must possess the ability not only to
read the data, but also to draw inferences
and build actionable plans around it.
Second is understanding both traditional and emerging marketing opportunities and how they influence each
other. Too often, traditional media are
pronounced dead prematurely, while
the newest trend is often pursued with

a disproportionate level of spend and
resources relative to the size of the audience and how that audience engages with
that media. I firmly believe that people
consume multiple sources of different
media in a variety of forms, and those
media influence each other.
Third is the ability to build relationships and credibility with crossfunctional members of your company’s
senior leadership team. A strong CMO
has a role at the table when the strategy
is refined, representing the customer
in these conversations. In addition, the
CMO needs to provide more input than
just managing the marketing expense
line in the P&L. The 4