Marketing & Security Must Work Together to Safeguard and Grow Brand Trust 

The importance of collaboration between an organization’s marketing and security leaders is the focus of the recently released report from the CMO Council, in partnership with KPMG, entitled “Marketing & Data Security: The Unlikely Brand Building Partnership,” which examines the marketing and security relationship and how marketing leaders can preserve brand reputation amid rising data privacy and security concerns.

The report found that 79% of chief marketing officers believe the marketing-security partnership is extremely or very important to acquire, maintain and secure customer data for competitive advantage. Yet, a third of marketing-security partnerships are not collaborating effectively.

This represents an opportunity for marketers and security pros to deepen their collaboration by overcoming such hurdles as misaligned priorities, inadequate understanding of roles and lack of communication, among others.

“A strong marketing-security partnership preserves brand reputation in an environment rife with privacy concerns, proving a strong security commitment can also help build the brand,” says Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “Conversely, a weak partnership can lead to data disasters, which will erode brand reputation as well as customer and employee trust.”

Unlocking a modern marketing strategy requires alignment and collaboration between marketing, security and other C-suite peers. To strengthen the CMO-CISO partnership, CMOs should understand the widespread impact the marketing-security partnership has on their business, both internally and externally; get granular when determining what efforts to take to ensure data protection; and prepare to be at the forefront of AI by acutely examining their data collection, storage and usage across functions.

“While marketing departments want to use AI, customer behavioral data and the Internet of Things to personalize customer interactions, they pose significant security risks,” says Bret Sanford-Chung, managing director of U.S. Marketing Consulting at KPMG LLP. “However, marketing and security can preserve brand reputation, ensure data-driven decision-making and deliver better customer experiences by collaborating on data security and marketing strategies.” And he adds to the to-do list itemized above: “It is important to invest in training and education to improve understanding and communication between marketing and security,” he says.

Orson Lucas, principal of Cyber Security Services at KPMG LLP, says, “The research highlights the critical need for collaboration between marketing and security leaders in order to safeguard and grow brand trust. By overcoming hurdles and deepening their partnership, marketers and security professionals can effectively address rising data privacy and security concerns, preserving brand reputation and ensuring competitive advantage.”

Source

Methodology

The report is based on a survey of more than 256 marketing leaders across industries and geographies. Additionally, we conducted in-depth interviews with executives from Teradata, The Doctor’s Company, PSEG Long Island, Trustwave and others.

The Chief Marketing Officer Council is the only global network of executives specifically dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 16,000-plus members control approximately $1 trillion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include more than 65,000 global executives in more than 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets.

KPMG LLP is a member firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited. KPMG is one of the world’s leading professional services firms and the fastest-growing Big Four accounting firm in the United States.