Whereas the chief advertising officer (CMO) submit isn’t about to vanish tomorrow, it’s inconceivable to disregard the mounting proof of its regular erosion.
As ADWEEK reported in August, the typical CMO tenure slipped from 4.1 years in 2024 to three.9 years in 2025. Final 12 months, 63% of Fortune 500 firms had CMOs—however in 2025, that determine had dropped by 5%.
It will get worse. A McKinsey paper launched in June famous that “CFOs typically view advertising as a value heart relatively than an funding.” And 2025 information gathered by advertising agency Boathouse reveals that 14% of CEOs admit to having thought of eliminating the CMO’s place.
Scary? Very a lot so. However regardless of the numbers, CMOs themselves usually are not as fatalistic about their futures.
Throughout a roundtable dialogue at ADWEEK Home: Promoting HQ on Thursday, ADWEEK chief model and group officer Jenny Rooney invited three main CMOs to problem the notion that entrepreneurs are an endangered species within the C-suite—and assist that counter-narrative with explanation why CMOs nonetheless matter.
Alison Hiatt of Vera Bradley, Uzma Rawn Dowler of Main League Baseball, and Christie Sclater of Clinique recommended methods CMOs can convey their relevance to CEOs underneath strain to chop prices and more and more seeking to AI as a panacea. Listed here are a couple of of them.
Be greater than a marketer
Immediately, a CMO’s job duties stretch far past the normal boundaries of promoting and promotion, however CFOs and CEOs typically don’t totally recognize that. So it falls to the chief marketer not simply to advocate for what they do, but additionally to translate it.
“The CMO function, in my thoughts, is sort of a get-shit-done officer,” Dowler stated. “The ‘C’ and the ‘O’ are there, after which within the center it’s best to simply put no matter you could put in there, as a result of our roles usually are not simply advertising.”
Market to your prospects, not your self
Outcomes-obsessed and more and more skeptical chief executives could also be extra more likely to query the considering behind, or validity of, an promoting marketing campaign or advertising technique. It’s in all probability a good suggestion to remind different company chiefs that they don’t have to get the concept.
“If they’ve [skeptical] opinions about sure issues, it’s okay—you must remind them, ‘Hey, this really isn’t meant for you,’” Dowler stated. “However we’ve all this information and analysis to point out that it’ll resonate for the people who it’s meant for.”
Get forward of AI
As generative AI will get extra superior, the C-suite can be much more more likely to query roles just like the CMO and artistic director, and even the advertising division general. Rightly or not, it is going to fall to the CMO to clarify AI’s place, and advertising’s place above it.
