CMOs: your marketing procurement team might be more useful than you think

Marketing procurement has been on a journey for the best part of a decade. Many of you will remember WFA’s Project Spring back in 2018 – the first time we really understood how the function was perceived within organizations.

It didn’t fix everything (it wasn’t meant to) but it gave us a foundation to build on. The work the WFA is doing now is about putting the next layer of building blocks in place, not starting again.

Our latest report – Advancing Marketing Procurement – invites marketing procurement teams to pause for a moment. To reflect on whether their set-up is truly future-ready. And, importantly, whether they’re focused on what matters most for the business and for marketing, in the pursuit of building meaningful and distinctive brands.

Why this matters to you as a CMO

For years the conversation has been dominated by ‘getting the procurement basics right’. This has been useful, but fairly generic. Increasingly, however, the focus is shifting towards understanding what makes marketing unique, and where marketing procurement can offer more meaningful input to bring the CMO’s vision to life and deliver real business solutions.

That shift is timely, because for every marketer that feels that marketing procurement doesn’t get it, the truth is that nearly eight in 10 (78%) marketing procurement teams tell us they’re undergoing moderate to significant change.

And like you they are having to face the same pressures to deliver results:

• Rising financial pressure: they’re being asked to deliver cost savings and support competitiveness – just as you are. Twenty-six percent say they don’t have enough resources and 17% say they are too focused on cost saving.
• Figuring out who the best partners are: in a world where agencies and models are evolving fast, they’re helping shape the right mix of internal and external resources playing to each other’s strengths, while mitigating risks for your brand(s) and the wider organisation.
• AI augmentation: while supporting marketing’s AI approach, procurement is also experimenting with AI to automate lower-value procurement tasks so teams can focus on what really matters. Many (67% say this is a high priority or important) are upskilling and some of that training may well overlap with what your teams need too.
• The talent squeeze: they’re facing the same shortage of skills the wider marketing ecosystem is dealing with (72% say there is an insufficient pipeline of qualified candidates). We’d love your support in promoting marketing procurement as a great career step for your peers.

Introducing a framework built for marketers

To help build the collaboration both sides need, the WFA’s Global Sourcing Board has been developing a voluntary four-stage framework taking teams from tactical involvement to best-in-class collaboration. The ambition is simple: to help marketing procurement become the trusted partner for your global brand investment strategy – from sourcing to resourcing – and help drive the business forward.

They’re not trying to do your job. On the contrary: they want to focus on the work only marketing procurement can do, sitting at the intersection of internal needs and external capabilities, delivering today while anticipating tomorrow, making your life easier.

They want to help you answer key questions:

• What are the business goals?
• How strong are our internal processes?
• Are we working with the best agencies and partners?
• Are we audit-ready?
• When marketing investment plans are challenged by the C-Suite, these questions become even more crucial. Procurement’s expertise in commercial models, remuneration structures, performance frameworks and cost benchmarks isn’t bureaucracy – it’s due diligence.

They can help you demonstrate careful stewardship of company resources and speak the language of finance where necessary.

The intersection of the CPO, CFO and CMO agenda

Marketing procurement is increasingly prioritising stakeholder engagement (it’s now at the same level of priority as metrics that track commercial rigour) and is focusing on evolving mindsets as much as skillsets.

Our research has found that the skills that many teams currently excel in, such as negotiation, contract management and project management, may lose relevance over the next two to five years. The tactical expertise that defines some procurement teams today risks becoming obsolete tomorrow.

So they’re working on evolving their role, moving from reducing costs within existing choices to helping colleagues make better choices in the first place. In short, they are reskilling to maintain differentiation and business relevance.

They’re also rethinking how they articulate their procurement work, helping the organisation see the bigger picture when creative, media, insights and production come together. The aim is simple: be easier to work with, create clarity and, most importantly, help marketing teams unlock growth.

One big area of work is around data and metrics. Savings alone are no longer a sufficient proof of value – not for procurement and not for marketing.

What the Sourcing Forum shows us is that metrics are evolving to connect directly to business objectives, helping to tell a clearer story about how marketing investments deliver and create compelling business narratives for key stakeholders.

As a result, they are now seeking to organise data in ways that complement marketers’ ways of working and connect the numbers with wider business outcomes.

They are also working to add classic marketing skills to their repertoire, learning to elevate reporting so it tells a story rather than simply sharing a spreadsheet.

So, where does this leave us?

Creating a productive collaboration is about togetherness. Your challenges as a CMO are their challenges as procurement professionals. You share the same business goals. When both sides are equipped, aligned and working with a shared view of value, the result will be better decisions, better relationships and better outcomes.

Marketing procurement can’t (and shouldn’t) do marketing. But they can make your investments stronger, more transparent, more future-proof and easier to defend. In a world where scrutiny is rising and resources are tight, that support could prove essential.