How CMOs can wake up to the AI reality

Seventy-six percent of marketing leaders say revenue growth is their top priority, according to Forrester research commissioned by Star. More than half say AI adoption is equally urgent. That’s not a coincidence. CMOs are under immense pressure to deliver measurable business impact with stagnant budgets, and AI is becoming the main lever that might move the needle.

Before we get in the weeds on systems and stacks, it’s important to keep in mind that creativity still matters. Brand still matters. But the modern CMO can no longer just be the brand steward. We must operate at the intersection of technology, data and revenue.

Why? Because now, for many agencies, AI systems are making calls on which audiences are prioritized, which products are promoted, how budgets are allocated and how experiences are shaped. That requires a new capability set: the depth of a brand steward plus the fluency of a technology leader. You need to understand data governance, model performance, integration complexity and AI ethics. Not superficially — deeply enough to make smart decisions.

Yet only 36% of CMOs report full alignment with CTOs on technology investment. And that is a problem. AI can’t sit in a functional silo. It requires shared ownership of platforms, data infrastructure and investment strategy. Without that, AI is enabling individual effectiveness, but its impact cannot scale enough to impact revenue.

In practical terms, this changes the CMO’s leadership profile. The role expands from brand steward to architect of commercial intelligence, who connects data inputs to revenue outputs and ensures that AI-driven systems align with business objectives.

The integration crisis nobody likes talking about

Agencies have seen this AI shift coming. Rather than become irrelevant as AI capabilities evolve, many have built their own AI-enabled platforms and proprietary tech stacks, trying to reposition themselves from a creative partner to a technology partner. It’s a smart defensive move, but it’s creating a new problem. The more agencies develop closed ecosystems to protect their value, the harder it becomes to integrate with clients who need that value.

That’s why agencies need to prioritize integration and interoperability with their clients’ ecosystems as a competitive moat or risk commoditization. 

Case in point: Only 8% of marketing leaders surveyed report seamless data unification across brand and agency platforms. And 32% view their partners’ systems as interchangeable. When your tech stack becomes a commodity, so do you.

But CMOs also have a role to play: Fragmented martech stacks, siloed data and misalignment between marketing and technology teams on tech investment are preventing organizations from reaping the full benefits of AI.

This is a leadership challenge, and CMOs are uniquely positioned to solve it by stepping into the role of the architect who connects disparate systems, data and tools into a coherent ecosystem that helps brands evolve in a user-centric way. 

The revenue North Star

Every brand touchpoint is now expected to earn its place in the commercial story. Boards are asking tough questions; CFOs expect a measurable link between marketing investment and business ROI. When half of marketing leaders say fragmented systems make it difficult to track ROI, this is a sign that radical change is needed in how marketing is done and measured.

CMOs need to stop thinking in campaign silos and start thinking in end-to-end customer journeys. We need to rebuild our measurement models around a single, cohesive view of how different touchpoints connect, in B2B or B2C. If we can’t tell a clear story from awareness to revenue, we might not survive the next budget cycle.

Why I am still optimistic (and you should be too)

Despite all this, I’m an AI optimist because we understand consumers deeply. We, as marketers, navigate complex stakeholder environments. We carry the brand and its meaning across the organization. AI amplifies those strengths; it’s the great equalizer. And the flip side of it is creating a sea of sameness. When everyone has the same tools, the same data, the same optimization engines, differentiation doesn’t come from technology; it comes from the brand and from a unique point of view. The more AI commoditizes execution, the more the brand becomes the competitive advantage. I said earlier that creativity still matters — CMOs are the only people in the organization who truly own that.

The opportunity isn’t just “doing marketing better.” It’s bringing brand differentiation into the boardroom as a strategic weapon, making the case that in an AI-driven world, brand separates winners from the efficient-but-forgettable middle.

The CMOs who get this, who embrace the architect role, lead the integration challenge, demand a seat at the AI strategy table, and make brand differentiation the North Star, those are the ones who will still be CMOs in three years.

The rest? They’ll be managing campaigns while someone else runs marketing.

This op-ed represents the views and opinions of the author and not of The Current, a division of The Trade Desk, or The Trade Desk. The appearance of the op-ed on The Current does not constitute an endorsement by The Current or The Trade Desk.