Marketers are more upbeat about the future of the CMO role, according to research by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
Marketer of the Future 2025, conducted in collaboration with WFA’s strategic partner for capabilities, Oxford, identifies key areas where marketers are succeeding and where struggling brands are failing to compete.
These areas include marketing fundamentals, growth goals, organisational integration, technology and the ability to demonstrate the value of marketing to other C-suite stakeholders.
The 2025 study also shows a greater sense of positivity towards the role of CMO, with only 10% saying “the role of the CMO won’t exist in 10 years’ time”, down from 19% in 2020.
The results are based on responses from almost 600 companies in 25 countries, representing a cumulative global marketing spend of approximately $US90 billion.
“We work in a very fast-paced industry beholden to new technologies and fast-changing consumer habits so it’s sometimes easy to get carried away by the shiny and new,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO at WFA.
"This research is a timely reminder that successful marketers start with the fundamentals; develop a clear strategy, objectives, positioning, target audience and KPIs.
"That is the bedrock around which to build an organisation and then develop the skills, leveraging new tech to help achieve brand growth."
Key findings:
Marketing fundamentals are at risk: Many marketers are losing focus on core principles while chasing new tools, trends and AI hype. The best have prioritised doing the fundamentals well while also gathering new skills. Only 39% of under-performing companies have strong brand, strategy and creative foundations, compared to 63% of competitive leaders, reinforcing how strategy, creativity and brand-building are key to long-term success.
Leaders seize trends and insights to unlock growth priorities: Leaders have clarity of thought when it comes to growth goals. Competitive leaders are 11% less concerned about short-term pressures than others, signalling a shift towards long-term, sustainable growth. Forty-three percent of top marketers prioritise consumer and market insights, compared to just 24% of struggling performers.
Cross-functional integration remains a huge challenge: Ninety-seven percent of competitive leaders say fast decision-making and cross-team collaboration are critical and 78% recognise cross-functional integration as essential for success. By contrast, laggards fail to align marketing, sales and e-commerce functions resulting in siloed teams that create fragmented customer experiences, weakening brand trust and commercial performance.
Leaders seamlessly combine AI and human thinking: AI is a growth driver for leading companies, helping them enhance creativity, decision-making and efficiency. Twenty-nine percent of competitive leaders see transformational change in people and tech as extremely important in driving future change. Failing to adopt AI effectively leads to missed opportunities and inefficiencies.
Marketing’s influence in the C-suite is at a crossroads: The leading C-suite marketers stand out by being able to demonstrate and communicate their impact to all stakeholders, increasing marketing’s mandate (and therefore the ability to reinvest in both marketing fundamentals and next gen skills). Forty-three percent of competitive leaders see C-suite influence as crucial, compared to just 23% of struggling marketers. Forty-six percent of leading marketers hold greater leadership influence such as board level appointments, proving that strategic marketing drives business growth.
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