The Chief Product Officer (CPO) title is used by companies with a single core brand or product with multiple platform components. It emphasizes the integration of management, product development, and strategy. To become a CPO, you need relevant marketing experience and educational credentials, such as a bachelor’s degree in business administration or marketing and an MBA. Companies may require anywhere from five to 15 years of experience.
Chief Product Officer (CPO) is an executive-level marketing title that is typically used by companies with a single core brand or selling one type of product with multiple platform components. It is comparable to the more commonly used title of chief marketing officer (CMO), but represents a company’s emphasis on the tight integration of management, product development, and strategy. You can become a product director by acquiring the right academic credentials and several years of first-hand experience in various aspects of sales and marketing.
Companies can adopt any office protocol that represents the company’s business philosophy. The choice to use the CPO title as the company’s primary marketing designation over the CMO title may simply be a matter of preference. There are certain circumstances where the CPO title may be the most common choice, based on how the business operates. For example, a company that sells a large brand of doll in multiple iterations would be more likely to hire a CPO than a company that sells multiple types and brands of beverages.
Video game companies are another example of a type of business that would hire a CPO. Electronic games are the main products implemented in various delivery platforms and have an aspect of continuous development that is interactive in nature. The CPO is responsible for tightly integrating the product’s vision, strategy, design and marketing, while controlling the business management aspects of a corporate department. To become a product director, you will have to develop an expertise in this type of focused product development.
You’ll need the kind of educational credentials that qualify you for employment in a corporate marketing department to become a chief product officer. This usually entails earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration or marketing. Obtaining a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on marketing will help your application, particularly at larger companies.
Unless you plan to work for a startup, the CPO position will require you to have a significant amount of relevant marketing experience before you are seriously considered for the job. Companies may require anywhere from five to 15 years of experience, with larger companies requiring experience at the higher end of the spectrum. Your background should demonstrate proficiency in various areas of a marketing department, as well as a command of product lifecycle management.
If the CPO position you are targeting is focused on a specific type of product or a single brand, the hiring company is usually looking for someone who can bring an innovative approach to market development for the product. Demonstrating experience developing products in new markets would also be helpful, such as acquiring a video game franchise and expanding opportunities for book and film adaptations. To become a product director, it also helps to become actively involved in the marketing profession through work done with trade associations, for example.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
