As a relatively new role in pharma \u2014 and one that not all pharma companies have \u2014 chief marketing officers (CMOs) are tasked with raising the profile of marketing within their companies and driving efforts to match the creativity and impact seen in consumer advertising.<\/p>\n
At its foundation, the chief marketing officer role is designed to spur the pharma company\u2019s growth, but the ways of doing so have transformed significantly in recent years.<\/p>\n
Five CMOs interviewed pinpointed key aspects of their role in 2025, including how they foster creativity that\u2019s as innovative as that of consumer marketing, build trust in science, and stay abreast of the rapidly changing marketing landscape.<\/p>\n
Most leaders interviewed agreed that the CMO role, at its core, is increasingly becoming about flipping the script and focusing on \u201cwhat people want from us, rather than what we want to tell people,\u201d says Gail Horwood<\/a>, CMO at Novartis.<\/p>\n Lina Polimeni<\/a>, chief corporate brand officer at Eli Lilly, refers to this concept as the head of marketing\u2019s \u201cNorth Star.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty and the role of marketing has always been communicating the \u2018North Star\u2019 \u2014 the \u2018So what?\u2019 \u2014 for patients,\u201d Polimeni says. \u201cMarketing has, over the years, created a strong credibility within the rest of the company \u2014 and the reason is we\u2019ve always tied that \u2018North Star\u2019 to business results.\u201d<\/p>\n In the first of a three-part series based on conversations with five pharma leaders with CMO or similar titles, MM+M breaks down how they view their roles, what other stakeholders want from their CMOs and how to build consumer trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n CMOs in a changing healthcare landscape<\/p>\n Today\u2019s pharma CMO must maintain a bird\u2019s-eye view of a very different healthcare landscape than pharma marketers have previously navigated. For one, the complexity of decision-making in healthcare has increased.<\/p>\n The traditional pharma model largely revolved around focusing sales reps and resources on doctor\u2019s offices, with the physician as the primary decisionmaker. Now, patients and caregivers are more curious, as well as willing to engage with and understand the treatments they\u2019re receiving, according to Erica Taylor<\/a>, who joined Genentech three years ago as its first CMO.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s much more of a dialogue and a discussion about overall treatment goals, and it\u2019s made the landscape for marketing all the more complex,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cNow we have to use all of the tools available in consumer spaces to make sure we aren\u2019t missing patients who have the chance to benefit from our medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n In relation to their organizations, CMOs are now expected to move beyond just brand management and drive company-wide growth strategies or even shape portfolio positioning. That mirrors the shift from CMOs being solely product-centric to more stakeholder-centric, as marketing now spans beyond HCPs and patients and across payers, policy, advocacy and tech partners.<\/p>\n