Industry Perspectives

The role of Global Marketing Director has existed for a long time within the Consumer Packaged Goods industry.   However, as more and more consumer goods companies look to expand their footprint and increase sales around the world, the number of these roles has increased dramatically.  Compared to 10 years ago, the number of global roles on which our firm has worked has quadrupled.

In addition to an increasing number of these roles, the overall scope has changed, too.  The scope can vary significantly among companies, depending on how they choose to go to market beyond their home market borders.  For example:

1. In some cases, the Global Marketing Director is primarily a consultative role, leveraging existing brand equities into new and existing markets, providing advice on building businesses, and conveying back to headquarters modifications required for success and unique support needed to advance the business in different economies and cultures. Usually, the profit and loss (P&L) for the business is managed at corporate headquarters or in the focus country or region; not in the global marketing group.
2. In some organizations, the P&L may exist in the global marketing group. In this case, the global group is responsible for the global brand equity, and brand teams are usually located in or assigned to the focus country or region.  Global Brand Director provides strategic leadership and is responsible for the top and bottom line of the overall business and brand globally.

In both cases, consumer insights and innovations are leveraged where possible.  One of the benefits of more advanced global organizations is that the insight and innovation pipeline goes both ways, from the home country to international and vice versa.

Compensation:

Experience and proven results play an important role in setting compensation. In our search practice, we see variances in US-based compensation for Global Marketing Directors depending on experience and responsibility.  Generally, the more P&L and sales responsibility, the higher the compensation one can expect.

• Compensation in the first example, above, could range from $150,000 to over $200,000 in base salary, plus bonuses between 25% and 40%.
• Compensation in the second example ranges from $180,000 to over $250,000 in base salary, plus bonuses between 30% and 50%.

In both examples, accelerators and Long Term Incentives will vary by company.

Other Important Factors:

Characteristics in candidates that companies look for when hiring Global Marketing Directors:

• Experience and results in global marketing roles
• Proven leadership in highly matrixed environments
• Flexibility due to variation in time zones
• Adaptability – those who enjoy working with and learning different cultures
• Language – being conversant in the primary language of your focus region is a real advantage but not always necessary
• Travel – being open to significant travel

The O’Connell Group has extensive experience working with global organizations and companies with the goal to strategically expand their global footprint.   The seasoned recruiters at O’Connell Group can help find and attract the talent to achieve your objectives.  Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.