Mark Reinke joins PwC’s CMO advisory board in Australia

The ex-Suncorp marketing executive Mark Reinke has joined PwC’s Chief Marketing Officer advisory board. Reinke will be leaving Suncorp after 14 years in a number of executive and advisory roles. He will begin his new position next month.

Mark Reinke has been announced as the latest addition to PwC’s CMO advisory board. He will join the advisory board with PwC peers Russel Howcroft, Mark Buckman and Sunita Gloster, as was announced in a press release earlier this week. 

Reinke has had a fruitful career with Suncorp, which he joined in 2004. He went on to become GM of group marketing in 2005 and was appointed to his first executive role in 2008 as an executive GM. By 2013 he was appointed group executive of marketing and as chief customer experience officer in 2016. In late 2017 he moved into the role of an advisor.

Before Suncorp, Reinke gained senior marketing experience with the Telstra and has worked for BHP Group. Reinke has also had experience with the changing roles of technology in marketing, a phenomenon which is drawing consulting firms closer to the advertising realm. He has previously ranked in the top spot on the top 50 Australian CMO list in 2015, an award that is given to innovative and effective marketeers.

PwC’s chief creative officer Russel Howcroft said Reinke’s appointment will add to the firm’s CMO offering;“Mark is one of the most respected senior marketing executives in Australia who understands the role marketing plays in the corporate growth agenda.”

“The CMO Advisory Board has played an important role in our rapid growth, providing industry insights and a perspective on global marketing trends that are reshaping the CMO agenda,” Howcroft said.

Expanding on his new position, Reinke added; “I am excited to work alongside a talented group of professionals at a time when marketing is pivotal to delivering earnings growth. New platforms and capabilities are enabling deeply accountable and engaging marketing campaigns and PwC is uniquely positioned to leverage these platforms to solve client problems.”

Reinke reflects 

Reflecting on the past 14 years at Suncorp, Reinke said; “Over the last 5-10 years, I’ve seen three significant changes. The customer now has the power to influence your margin and your growth - a single customer has that power. Any organisation not orientated around its customers is vulnerable.”

“This is exacerbated by and powered by digital tools and peer-to-peer sharing of experiences, and the ability to see through those experiences. This has changed the way companies must deliver value.”

“You can’t create value for customers from within the assets you have. This has seen the rise of platform business models where the value is in connecting different producers and consumers in new ways. This has been significant for Suncorp, it moved its business model from an end-to-end business, to a platform with the capability to connect with other services and bring those services to customers. This was a very big shift to becoming hyper-connective,” Reinke explained.

“Of course, there’s been a shift from the orientation around products, to an orientation around the journeys of customers. Products may be part of that journey, but they are not the entire journey.”

“Above all, it means aligning customer interest and shareholder interest for shared value," he said. “Ultimately, you need to work out what your customers are trying to do and help them do that, and figure out how to make money doing this, as opposed to being constrained by a business model.”

“The notion of shared value is challenging for most businesses because the business model is not fundamentally built to deliver shared value outcomes, and that can be difficult to transition from. Customer outcomes have to be the way in which you deliver profitability, rather than profitability being the end in itself.”