“Marketing’s job is to tell the story of growth. Investors just want to know how the next chapter drives the bottom line.”
Having ‘a seat at the table’ is an often discussed topic. Only 66 % of Fortune 500 companies currently have an executive with a C‑suite marketing title, up from 63 % the year before [1].
“Only about half of marketing leaders believe they can prove the value of marketing, according to Gartner. This statistic lines up with recent survey results from research company NewtonX, which found many top marketers (70%) find it difficult to show a return on their investments.”
AdWeek – CMOs Can’t Defend What They Can’t Define
While it’s not relevant for every company to have a CMO, it’s a signal of its evaluated importance. Out of curiosity, I started to think through the layers a CMO has available [2] to show its importance through a public forum (outside of the boardroom), earnings calls. For decades, quarterly earnings calls have been the domain of the CEO, CFO, and the Investor Relations (IR) team. Yet marketing is one of the largest controllable (growth) levers in most companies. When a CMO joins the call, they can translate customer demand signals and trends, brand momentum, efficiency, and media efficiency into the financial language that analysts track. However, only a very small number of earnings calls have a CMO present. But when they join, they can be a valuable addition.
The Companies Already Doing It: T-Mobile, Allegiant, and Starbucks
- Starbucks (Q1 FY24): CMO Brady Brewer [3], who quickly rose to the CEO role at Starbucks International after, joined the earnings call Q&A to explain the customer response to menu innovation and global rewards adoption.
- Allegiant Travel (Q2 FY24): EVP & CMO Scott DeAngelo framed marketing spend as “variable cost per passenger,” linking brand campaigns to load factors.
- T-Mobile US (Q4 FY24): CMO Mike Katz, who’s on most earnings calls together with the senior leadership team, talked in the earnings call about the customer intelligence T-Mobile is bringing into the acquisition of Vistar (OOH platform) and the potential efficiency it could bring to its advertising (they’re one of the largest US OOH advertisers).
- Canadian Pacific Kansas City (Q3 FY24): EVP & CMO John Brooks briefed analysts on intermodal demand and cross‑border pricing power.
- Norfolk Southern (Q1 FY24): CMO Ed Elkins detailed pricing strategy and customer segmentation, reinforcing the CFO’s volume commentary earlier in the call.
In many cases, the CMOs present on the earnings calls have a large role & scope often beyond just Marketing. Combining the different functions that they’re responsible for gives them an edge to drive company valuation.
What CMOs Add to an Earnings Call: Trends, Confidence in Growth & Efficiency, Alignment, and Brand Momentum
| Investor/Analyst Question | CMO Contribution |
|---|---|
| Where will tomorrow’s growth come from? | Brand‑led pipeline, market share wins, category expansion plans. |
| How efficient is customer acquisition? | CAC vs. LTV trends, media mix modeling, performance of owned channels. |
| What is the durability of demand? | Brand equity scores, NPS shifts, loyalty retention cohorts. |
| How does marketing spend flex in a downturn? | Scenario planning tied to revenue elasticity, proven efficiency levers. |
Trends & Forward Indicators (Demand):
“Fourth quarter completed the year that saw post-pandemic normalization of domestic leisure travel demand. But with Allegiant, nonetheless, driving booking and passenger levels that slightly surpassed the historic highs of 2022 despite minimal capacity growth.”
– Scott Deangelo – Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer (Q4 FY2023)
” Canadian grain volumes grew 3% with increased wheat to Mexico and the ramp up of harvest across the Canadian prairies. Now, looking forward we expect Canadian grain production in line with our five-year average and our comps in Q4 and early 2025 are favorable, as farmers held onto their crops a year ago. Now that favorable volume setup, coupled with regulated grain pricing of approximately 6.5%, has us well positioned in Canadian grain. “
– John Brooks – Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer (Q3 2024)
Highlight signals that precede revenue—search interest, pipeline velocity, loyalty membership growth—to help analysts model the out‑quarters.
Sell‑side analysts increasingly probe marketing for forward‑demand signals (pricing power, promo cadence, channel mix). Having the CMO on the call shortens that feedback loop.
Translating Marketing Jargon to Finance
“Our Net Promoter Scores are industry-leading. In recent surveys of our own customers, they assigned us what we believe to be the top of the field an NPS of 51. It’s coming in ahead of all of the domestic carriers as far as we know.” (Q4 2023)
Replace reach, impressions, and “brand love” with incremental revenue, customer lifetime value, retention rate , and share of checkout. In every case above, the marketing leader was tasked with tying brand or customer initiatives to specific financial outcomes (volume, mix, NPS‑linked margin, ARPA, etc.).
Building Investor Confidence
For full year 2023, we retained nearly one-third of customers who flew us the prior year, and those customers accounted for nearly half of our total revenue for the year. This year-to-year customer retention rate was 16% higher than it was in 2022. Our loyalty programs Allways Rewards and the Allways Rewards Visa card continue to engage a greater portion of customers and motivate those engaged customers to travel and spend more with Allegiant year after year.
– Scott Deangelo – Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer (Q4 FY2023)
A clearer line‑of‑sight from spend to growth often commands higher valuation multiples. On industrial or asset‑heavy calls (the CPKC example), the CMO sat alongside the COO to frame how service reliability or product availability underpins campaign ROI. And you’re telling me your business can’t explain it!?
Internal Alignment
When analysts start quoting marketing metrics, product and finance teams quickly tune in. Show a tight choreography with the CFO to avoid overlap. Decide which marketing KPIs will be disclosed and how they ladder to revenue or margin or future value creation (the T-Mobile OOH example).
Other topics: CMOs joining, Marketing Programs, Marketing Value
In many earnings calls the context of Marketing was a topic as well. I emphasized the areas that marketing plays a role in and how its being presented during earnings calls.
- Figs ($FIGS): “We look forward to having her lead our brand and digital marketing efforts as we work to get back the secret sauce that has driven our success for over the last decade. While we’re excited about our strategic initiatives to drive brand momentum, we know that building new and existing customer engagement in an environment of the headwinds facing our healthcare professionals will take time, which is reflected in our guidance.”
- Starbucks ($SBUX): “We talk a lot about our personalization capabilities at Starbucks but truly that job is never done because as new technologies and capabilities come online, we are grabbing those and integrating them into our system to use that as a business accelerator.”
- Allegiant ($ALGT): “As I mentioned, at Super Bowl week here in Las Vegas, the town is on fire and amazing stuff is going on. This week will be a large payback for our investment in the naming rights for the Las Vegas Raiders Stadium (Allegiant Stadium). The exposure, the impressions we have already received, and will continue to receive in this next week have been and will be exceptional.”
- Verizon ($VZ): “I’m excited to bring her (Leslie Berland) on board and have a great confidence in her ability to continue shaping Verizon’s premium brand perception and story.”
Earnings calls will always center on numbers & forecasts. However, the opportunity for CMOs is to own the customer‑driven numbers, the leading indicators (demand, trends, evolution of monetization, new programs/products/strategies) that shape tomorrow’s revenue. When marketing speaks fluent finance, Wall Street analysts listen.