Spanning Silos

Powerful product, country, and functional silos are jeopardizing companies' marketing efforts. Because of silos, firms misallocate resources, send inconsistent messages to the marketplace, and fail to leverage scale economies and successes--all of which can threaten a company's survival.
As David Aaker shows in Spanning Silos, the unfettered decentralization that produces silos is no longer feasible in today's marketplace. It's up to chief marketing officers to break down silo walls to foster cooperation and synergy.
This isn't easy: silo teams guard their autonomy vigorously. As proof of their power, consider the fact that the average CMO tenure is just twenty-three months. How to proceed? Drawing on interviews with CMOs, Aaker explains how to:
Strength your credibility with silo teams and your CEO
Use cross-functional teams and other strategic linking devices
Foster communication across silos
Select the right CMO role-- from facilitator to strategic captain
Develop common planning processes
Adapt your brand strategy to silo units
Allocate marketing dollars strategically across silos
Develop silo-spanning marketing programs
In this age of dynamic markets, new media, and globalization, getting the different parts of your organization to collaborate is more critical--and more difficult--than ever. This book gives you the road map you need to accomplish that feat.

David A. Aaker is Vice-Chairman of Prophet, a branding, marketing, and innovation consultancy, and has published more that one hundred articles and fourteen books, including Brand Portfolio Strategy, Brand Leadership, Strategic Marketing Management (8th edition), Building Strong Brands, Managing Brand Equity, and From Fargo to the World of Brands.