With macroeconomic pressures forcing an industry obsession with ROI—and with chief marketing officers’ tenure growing ever shorter—innovative, risk-taking marketing campaigns are usually the first symptoms of tightened budgets. But the risk-versus-reward calculations of such campaigns can generate trepidation among brand leaders, and for good reason.

The reality of virtually any industry is heavily influenced by the state of the economy overall. When interest rates and customer spending are trending positively, it’s reflected in the microbusiness environment, but marketing and advertising may be the most vulnerable to economic fragility.

…

Creativity in an age of fear. Coaching clients, partners and internal teams in dealing with a fear of creative risk.

“CMOs can’t control macroeconomics in most cases, but they can control how they navigate uncertainty, and the partnerships and knowledge they cultivate,” said List member W. Joe DeMiero, U.S. CEO of Universal McCann. “This includes putting in place the tools and processes to ensure adaptive capacity to test and learn, and prioritization around experimentation to test new models.”

Read more in Ad Age.