The new marketing team ..same as the old one?

I just read a pretty balanced Article in Marketing Week about the changing shape of the marketing team, which painted a coherent picture of the career and skills landscape and challenges facing marketeers today ..but don't necessarily agree with the vision painted of the optimal marketing structure.

Do check it out on https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/04/11/specialists-future-marketing/?

My issue with the notion of multiple in house specialists approach, as distinct from the traditional marketer as generalist approach , is that although there are indeed more specialisations or tools in the marketing tool box than ever before ,there is nothing new with the core challenges....

the biggest of which is whether to outsource or bring in house...something the big fmcg companies have been dealing with ,in changing ways since the very dawn of fmcg when they literally produced their own soap operas in house ,I mean content for broadcast on the mass media of the day.

As a marketeer of a certain mindset I agree with the analogy made in the article of the continuing role of the Brand manager as "Quarterback ", but I would argue this really hasn't changed.

It could be argued that one of the key factors driving the trend to bring more specialists in house is because of an inability to successfully harness multiple partners externally...

Essentially my issue with much of the current theory swirling around the roles and shape of the New marketing team is that by default all specialists risk a certain myopia, or to paraphrase a song lyric" to a hammer everything looks like a nail"..

Nett, the role of the brand manager ,generalist but with a holistic, discipline neutral approach is in fact even more important than ever....