Industrial B2B · 14 months
After a CMO exit.
Industrial company with CMO departure and a search for a successor expected to be long. 14-month mandate with strategic plan and team reorganisation. Orderly handover to the new CMO.
Senior marketing leadership for specific transition periods: loss of team, phase change, post-merger integration, deep reorganisation. Defined commitment, clear delivery, orderly handover at the end.
Your CMO or marketing director has left and the search for a successor will take months. The function cannot pause in the meantime.
You have just acquired or merged with another organisation. Marketing integration is complex and needs dedicated leadership for 12-18 months.
Entry into new markets, launch of a different line, deep digital transformation. Moments that need dedicated senior leadership for a specific period.
Family or mid-sized businesses moving from intuitive marketing to professional marketing. You need leadership during the transition but the permanent profile isn't yet clear.
First 4-6 weeks: immersion, contact with team, agencies and stakeholders, situational diagnosis, plan for the first 90 days.
12-18 month plan according to mandate. Team reorganisation where required. Coordination with agencies. Direct reporting to the CEO.
Day-to-day with full executive responsibility. Decision-making, budget management, representation before the board, crisis management if they arise.
Last 2-3 months dedicated to handover to the successor (internal or external) with documentation, training and orderly overlap. Clear ending, no surprises.
Leadership without indefinite commitment. What it delivers concretely:
No 3-6 month learning curve as with an internal hire. Senior profile with experience who knows what to do from day one. The function doesn't stop.
Defined mandate (12, 18, 24 months) with clear delivery. Without the uncertainty of having to remove someone later if they don't fit. Orderly closure.
An interim CMO doesn't carry internal political inertia. Makes hard decisions an internal person with five years of history would not dare to make.
Executive profile with deep experience. Hiring a permanent CMO at competitive market salary would cost a great deal — without the flexibility of interim.
Organisations that leave marketing leadership empty for 6-12 months lose traction. Interim keeps the pace while the permanent solution is decided.
The end of the mandate includes documentation, successor training and overlap. Knowledge that is lost in poorly executed transitions is preserved in this model.
Industrial company with CMO departure and a search for a successor expected to be long. 14-month mandate with strategic plan and team reorganisation. Orderly handover to the new CMO.
Two mid-sized companies merged. Marketing integration as specific 18-month mandate. Unified structure and common plan at the end of the mandate.
Family business with historically intuitive marketing. 12-month mandate to professionalise the function and define the permanent profile. Informed internal hire decision.
Governance framework and quarterly priorities.
Operational translation with KPIs and owner per initiative.
Day-to-day campaigns, content and measurement.
Interim CMO delivers particular value in these four scenarios. Each with a clearly definable mandate:
Senior profile searches done properly take 4-9 months. If the function sits empty that long, you lose traction. Interim covers the gap with quality.
Integration of teams, brands, systems and processes. Typical 12-24 month mandate with a dedicated profile focused solely on that.
International launch, IPO, expansion into new categories. Moments that demand dedicated senior leadership for a defined and bounded period.
Sometimes there are decisions (redundancies, closing lines, supplier change) that no one internally wants or can take. The interim, with clear mandate, takes them with judgement.
The external department is a continuous function without a clear end date. Interim CMO is a specific mandate with defined beginning, middle and end. The first is sustained operation; the second is an executive project.
A monthly fee adjusted to senior profile and dedication. More than a light retainer, but less than an internal hire at competitive market salary. Predictable cost across the whole mandate.
Yes, if it makes sense for both parties. The norm is to define an initial period and review at 75% of the mandate. If extension is decided, it is done for a new and defined period — not indefinitely.
Interim CMO is primary dedication. There may be other punctual commitments, but the mandate client has priority and the majority of attention. That is agreed explicitly at the outset.
Yes, if so decided. As part of handover, I can accompany the selection process for the permanent CMO with judgement: profile definition, candidate assessment, final recommendation. That helps the transition succeed.
First 45-minute session, free of charge and no commitment. If we fit, I send you a detailed proposal within 5 days. If we don't, you take away a useful initial diagnosis.