CMOs prioritize organizational influence over long-term brand growth

Dive Brief:

CMOs are increasingly prioritizing short-term results over long-term brand initiatives in order to develop respect and influence in the C-suite, with just 28% of CMOs saying they have a “very high” level of influence in their organizations, according to Lippincott’s “CMO Outlook 2026” study.
Nearly 80% of CMOs feel bureaucracy regularly interferes with decision making and 84% say aligning leadership around a shared marketing vision is difficult. Under half of CMOs feel marketing operates with a high degree of autonomy.
As CMOs feel pressure around AI adoption, money is being funnelled away from user experience, mobile apps, loyalty programs and other areas that could help protect against AI disruption.

Dive Insight:

Amid challenges like mounting pressure to deliver immediate results, slow decision making and increased organizational complexity, CMOs are focused on initiatives that will drive internal credibility, largely at the expense of long-term brand health. CMOs are increasingly prioritizing the needs of CEOs over their own and 15% of marketing heads say they are not the top marketing decision maker in their organizations, according to the report.

“CMOs can’t entirely abandon those critical measures of business health but need to recalibrate their relationships internally to advocate for long-term brand success measures alongside the immediate term, even if unpopular,” said Michael D’Esopo, CEO of Lippincott, in press materials.

Increased marketing investments are being directed toward AI, according to the report. However, that means less money is being spent on the infrastructure needed to make a brand likely to arise in large language model queries. Just 12% of respondents say their tech enablement is “excellent” and 11% say their organization had an “excellent” ability to adopt new technologies.

AI isn’t the only factor driving the disconnect between CMOs and the larger C-suite. The majority of CMOs investing in culture-based marketing would do more if organizational obstacles didn’t exist. Speed is a significant factor, with 35% of respondents saying culture-based marketing takes at least three weeks to implement, with 25% saying it takes over a month. Additionally, just 31% say there is equal cultural awareness between marketing and the larger organization and 41% say they feel in tune with culture while the organization is behind.

The “CMO Outlook 2026” survey was fielded by independent B2B market research firm NewtonX. The study includes responses from 541 CMOs or equivalent, with the top industries represented being financial services (14%), technology (13%), retail (8%) and healthcare (7%). Regions surveyed include the U.S. and Canada (33%), Europe (22%), Asia-Pacific (22%), Latin America (20%) and the Middle East (2%).