According to Spencer Stuart's CMO Tenure 2026 study, the average CMO at an S&P 500 company stays 4.1 years, compared with 5.0 years for the C-suite overall. 31% of S&P 500 companies have no chief marketing officer at all. New leaders tend to bring a new agency, a new deck and a new story. A corporate position that resets every four years isn't a corporate position, it’s a marketing campaign.
Why is brand the CEO's job?
Brand belongs to the whole company, but someone has to own it. A clear position survives leadership changes while a vague (or undocumented) one gets replaced by the next person's taste.
What does it look like when the brand isn't written down?
It usually sounds like this: "Our new CMO wants to overhaul the brand." More often than not, that’s a sign that the brand wasn’t defined well, and probably not documented at all. That isn't a fresh start, it’s a Hail Mary.
Four signs your brand lives in one person's head:
Product names change with every new leader.
Each new sales leader rewrites the pitch.
Every new CMO starts a rebrand.
Only the founder can explain your edge.
If any of these hit home, it’s time for an audit so you can document the brand that exists. Then the CMO can work to improve it, not tear it down and start over.
Your Brand Truth outlasts any one leader. See how we build it with your leadership team.
FAQ
Who should own a company's brand?
The CEO owns the position. Marketing leads the work of expressing it, but the core story should belong to the company, not to whoever holds the CMO seat.
Should a new CMO rebrand?
Only if the business has changed: a merger, a new market, a new strategy. A new leader alone isn't a reason to start over.
How do we keep the brand consistent through leadership changes?
Document the core position, the proof behind it and how it shows up across teams. Then make it part of how new leaders are onboarded.
Sources: Spencer Stuart, CMO Tenure 2026: Snapshot of an Expanding Role (S&P 500 companies).
