Why Getting a Big 4 to Design Your Marketing Org Is Like Asking Your Accountant to Redesign Your Kitchen

You know something’s not quite right with your marketing team.

It’s not a disaster. But it’s not delivering what the business needs—and you’re starting to wonder if the structure’s the problem.

So you do what many execs do: call in the consultants.

And if it's a Big 4 firm? Even better, right? Safe hands. Deep pedigree. Impressive decks.

Except… when it comes to marketing, this move usually backfires.

Here’s why.

1. They Design for Control, Not Growth

Big 4 firms are wired to optimise for stability. Controls. Efficiencies. Risk management. And most of all… to ‘cost out’.

That’s their DNA. And it works brilliantly for functions like Finance or Ops.

But Marketing? That’s a different beast.

Marketing is a growth engine. A competitive weapon. It’s messy, iterative, and always changing gears. Trying to tame it with a classic consulting framework is like handing your sales team a governance checklist and hoping for revenue.

They’ll give you a structure. But it won’t help you grow.

2. They Start with Boxes, Not the Battlefield

Good marketing orgs are built from the outside in—anchored in what the market demands, where the competitive fights are that matter, and what capabilities you actually need to win.

But that’s not how most consulting projects run.

They start with a set of potential structure options in mind. Benchmark against “best practice”.  Layer on paint-by-numbers capability models. Consider FTE… but not the people.

And sure, the end result looks tidy. But it’s like designing a football formation without checking who you're playing against- or who’s actually fit to run.

You don’t get a competitive structure. You get a generic one.

3. They Assume the Org Is the Problem

Here's the truth: Most marketing orgs aren’t underperforming because of reporting lines. They've fallen victim to strategic fog, leadership gaps, or capability mismatches.

But most consulting work starts with a solution already scoped: a new structure.

It’s like walking into the doctor’s office and being handed crutches before anyone’s checked if anything’s actually wrong with your legs.

You might not even need a re-org. What you do need is a more holistic operating model re-think.

4. They Ignore Marketing’s Unique Interpersonal Dynamics

Marketing is full of grey space. Influence (within, but more importantly, outside of the function)  matters more than titles. And success depends on how leaders co-own strategy and execute across the blur of brand, demand, product, and sales- and enable their team members to do the same, without having to RASCII everyone into good behaviour.

Career Consultants rarely see, or appreciate that. How can they, when they’ve never walked the walk (or perhaps more accurately, swum in the washing machine)?

They draw up clean lines and formal hierarchies. Clean lines and straightforward answers make for great packs. But they ignore the human stuff: who actually makes the calls, who’s trusted, who’s blocking progress quietly in the background. Who’s ready to progress, and who has one foot out the door, no matter what you do? 

You’re left with a one-hit wonder structure that works in theory. Not one that can be implemented over practical horizons so that the change effort doesn’t exceed the benefit .

5. They Don’t Stay to Clean Up

The pitch is always polished. The deck is compelling. The partners and their suits are sharp.

But once the slides are handed over? They're gone.

You're left to implement a new structure that hasn’t been road-tested, with a leadership team that wasn't really part of the journey, and a function that still isn’t sure what the hell happened, or why.

It’s the organisational equivalent of being handed a blueprint and a hammer—with no builder in sight.

So What Should You Do?

Firstly- we’re not suggesting doing this all yourself in ‘magic time’ is the answer. You’ve got enough on your hands, and quite frankly, you’re probably too close to it to see all the angles. 

Secondly, org design is the last step. Not the first.

That’s why Wingmaven doesn’t “do org design projects”, off to the side. We’ve been called in to clean up too many structures that started this way.

We embed. We work with you. We get in the room and tackle the important, but often messy, questions that get to the heart of what’s required to get marketing match-fit for the next business horizon.

Then- and only then- do we help you shape the structure. And we’ll stick around to assist in implementing the change, for as long as you need us.

The clincher: we’ve run marketing teams. We’ve been CMOs. We’ve felt the pressure of trying to deliver on business expectations and design the function for the future. And we’re organisational coaches- we believe in working with you to surface the right solution, not just present you with the final ‘answer’.

So if you’re serious about moving the function forward and not just redrawing the boxes- don’t start with consultants who’ve never sat in the chair.

Talk to people who have.