With the task to deliver growth, enforce governance, and embrace generative (G-AI), the Chief Marketing Officers’ (CMOs) forum of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) has emphasised the roles of the group in revenue accountability, protecting consumers’ trust, and leveraging new tools with cultural depth.

Noting that the role of today’s Nigerian CMO stands at the intersection of three unstoppable forces, the association said that their roles would either redefine marketing as the engine of business growth or reduce it to a cost centre struggling for relevance.

President of ADVAN, Osamede Uwubanmwen, while he described CMOs as growth partners, declared that governance should be enabling, rather than stifling.

According to him, governance should stand for fair play, where everybody is at the table and all are welcome.
He gave instances of some CMOs not rising to the position of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), stating that it was about how they market themselves professionally and acquire the requisite knowledge for and beyond brand building.

On GenAI, Uwubanmwen said it was about proper adoption and how officers should be able to use it to improve their functionality well.

Chief Enabling Officer, Newwaves Ecosystem Limited, Olufemi Williams, who assessed the increasing demands on CMOs, said the Nigerian CMO was no longer just a brand builder, but a chief growth architect, proving impact, optimising spend, and driving business transformation.

Williams, who spoke on the theme, ‘Growth, Governance and G-AI…The New Trinity for the Nigerian CMO urged marketers to be growth partners in their organisations.

He reminded them that boards expect CMOs to prove marketing’s contribution to revenue, margin, and customer lifetime value, warning that “vanity metrics no longer suffice”.

He said they should go beyond presenting and defending eyeballs and clicks, but what directly impacts the bottom line.

“This is what CEOs measure”, he said.