How the fractional CMO of Ithaca Hummus sets the brand’s creative vision

Who knew a food run could lead to a new job?

Slammed with calls one day, Alyssa Bonanno ran to her local grocery store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood to grab something to snack on. She chose hummus and carrots, and was so impressed by the taste of the hummus that she messaged the company’s founder on LinkedIn to ask if she could help market the brand to elevate its status.

That LinkedIn message helped her land a job as the fractional CMO of Ithaca Hummus.

Bonanno, who started her role in January, joins a host of fractional marketing execs who have been hired by brands like SoulCycle and canned-seafood brand Scout as expectations and duties for CMOs continue to change industrywide. In recent years, the chief marketing officer has become an “all-encompassing, almost impossible title,” Bonanno said, pointing to creative, brand, and growth duties as examples of responsibilities that can fall to a company’s head marketer.

“Due to [high] turnover and due to that inherent distrust,” she said, “this has become a popular alternative, because people feel like, ‘Well, if it’s a bad fit, it’s not forever.’”

From Bonanno’s point of view, fractional CMOs generally best serve “smedium-sized startups” temporarily as they scale and figure out their marketing needs—not larger companies that she has seen “utilizing fractional CMOs as an attempt to be noncommittal,” she told Marketing Brew. “I think that’s a loss.”

Day in, day out

At Ithaca, Bonanno puts in 15-hour weeks and is set to stay in the role for six months. Given the relatively short tenure, she’s put her marketing duties on the fast track. During the first month on the job, she told us, Bonanno met with the sales team and distribution partners to better understand the business. In February, she planned out various marketing initiatives for Ithaca, including a revamped social presence, a new brand campaign, new partnerships, and redesigned merchandise, which the brand is set to roll out with the help of its internal creative team.

“Largely, it is me laying out the creative vision, a creative roadmap, and the marketing plan for the next year,” she said.

After her six months are up, Bonanno plans to hand over the marketing reins—hopefully, she said, to a full-time CMO. But she’s not interested in taking the role full-time.

“So many brands, especially smaller brands that have to be more thoughtful and careful with their capital, invest in agency relationships, and just don’t see a return on investment because they aren’t quite sure how to articulate what they need,” she said.

Fractional CMO roles aren’t perfect, and can come with challenges, Bonanno said. While marketers in those roles can fast-track marketing work for brands, it can be difficult to execute work on a short-term basis that sees immediate returns.

“You don’t see payoff in a tested piece of creative or a campaign or brand awareness until many months down the line,” she said. “I do hope that doesn’t set people up for failure.”

While the fractional CMO job can be a difficult one, Bonanno is committed to it even after her time at Ithaca is up in a few months. While she wouldn’t accept a full-time CMO position, she would consider staying on as a consultant for the brand.

“If I am successful here, I probably will put myself out of work,” she said.