Here’s an uncomfortable pattern: most marketing transformation investments depreciate the moment the project team moves on.
The agency engagement ends. The interim CMO leaves. The centre of excellence gets reorganised. And two years later, you’re solving the same problems again.
The usual diagnosis is execution failure. But the pattern is too consistent for that. It happens in well-run marketing functions, with talented teams, despite genuine effort.
The real issue is whether you’re renting capability or building it.
Rented looks like: agencies who deliver campaigns but not the ability to generate them. Key people who “just know” how the brand works. Expertise that concentrates rather than spreads.
Built looks like: principles your team can apply without checking upstairs. Infrastructure that enables judgment. Know-how that transfers when people move on.
One question cuts through: if your top three marketing people left tomorrow, would your capability keep working?
Most marketing functions fail that test. Not because they’re badly run — because of how the capability was built.
The full piece explores the structural reasons this happens, and where to start building differently.
Click below to read Cecilia’s longform article:
