Bob Pearson

expert panel

Not long ago, creating polished marketing imagery often required professional photo shoots, extensive design work and multiple rounds of revisions. Today, generative AI allows brands to produce sophisticated visuals faster and more affordably than ever. The shift is already well underway: A January 2026 Interactive Advertising Bureau survey found that 83% of U.S. advertising executives said their companies had already deployed AI in the creative process.But creating more eye-catching content doesn’t guarantee that anyone will remember the brand it came from.In a global analysis of more than 12,000 brand assets, Ipsos awarded only 15% “gold status,” meaning the assets, in isolation, were instantly and uniquely associated with the correct brand. If even established brand creative rarely achieves that level of recognition, it’s clear that professional-looking content isn’t the same thing as distinctive content that signals a brand in a unique, fast, intuitive way. And the stakes are significant: Ipsos found that brands with an extended portfolio of strong assets are 31% more likely to be considered by consumers and 38% more likely to be chosen.CMOs now face a creative challenge that technology alone can’t resolve: producing impactful visual content that feels unmistakably connected to a brand while taking advantage of AI’s expanding capabilities, cost savings and productivity boosts. Below, members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank share insights on what makes visual content not only professional and memorable but unmistakably a brand’s own, as well as how to apply those principles as AI reshapes the creative process.

expert panel

Internal communication is easy to treat as a housekeeping function—something that happens after leadership has made the real decisions. But the way those decisions are explained can shape whether employees understand the direction, trust the people setting it and know what their own role is. According to a spring 2026 survey by Gallup, employees who strongly agree they trust their organization’s leadership are 3.7 times as likely to be engaged, yet just 20% of U.S. employees place themselves in that group.Those numbers suggest that successful internal communication is about more than just getting information out in a timely fashion. And there’s evidence leadership teams in many organizations are struggling to convey their plans and perceptions about the current environment and their vision of the path forward. The American Psychological Association’s 2025 Work in America survey found that upper management consistently reported more positive views of organizational change and their work experience than frontline workers and individual contributors did. Bridging that gap requires leaders to understand how employees are actually experiencing change, then frame their messages so they’re received and understood as intended.Marketing leaders spend their days translating complex ideas into messages that work for distinct audiences, so they’re well positioned to spot communication problems inside the business, too. Below, members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank, with expertise spanning brand storytelling, customer engagement, digital marketing and more, share internal communication mistakes business leaders should address and how marketing expertise can help.

expert panel

Marketing leaders are often urged to let data drive their decisions, particularly when budgets are tight and the stakes are high. But a new Journal of Business Research paper suggests there’s another variable that dashboards can’t capture: What’s happening in a CMO’s personal life may affect the way they approach marketing strategy, from planning and product development to communications and channel management.That doesn’t make data-driven leadership less valuable. It does, however, underscore its limits. Data still has to be interpreted, trade-offs still have to be weighed and decisions still have to be made by people whose judgment, energy and perspective don’t exist separately from the rest of their lives. Stress combined with time pressure can impair decision-making, affecting attention and making people more likely to overlook beneficial options. That makes the support surrounding senior leaders more than a matter of workplace well-being. What should companies be doing to help CMOs make sound decisions when personal pressures inevitably arise? Below, members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank share their perspectives on the human limits of data-driven leadership, how organizations can build stronger support around the people making high-stakes marketing decisions, and how life experiences can expand a marketing leader’s creativity and impact.

expert panel

Values-based marketing can create a meaningful connection between a brand and its audience, building longer-term loyalty than simple price- or product-forward messaging. But it’s not necessarily a slam-dunk strategy: Americans are evenly divided on whether companies making public statements about political or social issues is important to them. And when companies weigh in on social causes or emotionally charged issues, the message itself is only part of what people are evaluating. Audiences are also asking whether the brand’s position feels credible—and whether the company has earned the right to speak.Once a brand does choose to engage in values-based marketing, credibility becomes critical. Recent consumer research found that, across age cohorts, Americans consider honesty to be the most important brand value; simply taking a stand carries less weight. For marketing leaders, that raises an important question: Is the company expressing a value it demonstrably lives by or simply borrowing the language of a cause?So how can CMOs recognize when values-based marketing is crossing into performative compassion, and how can they ensure their messaging remains credible and ethical? Below, members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank share the warning signs to watch for and how to approach cause-related marketing with greater care.

expert panel

For CMOs and agency leaders, a lean team may no longer be a temporary state—a rough quarter or short hiring freeze—but the new normal. Many organizations are remaining cautious about adding headcount, and the broader U.S. labor market continues to reflect a “low-hire, low-fire” environment in which employers are holding teams relatively steady rather than expanding quickly.At the same time, the demands placed on marketing teams haven’t become any lighter. CMOs are still expected to support growth, strengthen customer relationships, build brands and keep pace with rapidly changing technology. And many marketing leaders are being asked to do all this not only with small teams but also with limited funds. In Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey, 56% of respondents said their budgets aren’t big enough to fully deliver on 2026 strategies, and 54% reported insufficient resources.  That combination—small teams and tight budgets—leaves marketing and agency leaders with an important question: When capacity is limited, which work truly deserves the team’s attention? The answer can’t simply be to squeeze more activity out of fewer people. When additional hires may or may not be coming, effective prioritization means making deliberate trade-offs, protecting the work that creates the most value, and getting comfortable with leaving some worthwhile ideas undone.Members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank are a curated group of experienced marketing leaders with expertise in brand storytelling, digital advertising, customer engagement and leading lean teams. Here, they share lessons CMOs and agency leaders can use to set sharper priorities, make better use of limited capacity, and keep lean teams focused when future hiring remains uncertain.

expert panel

Companies increasingly look to their CMOs for more than brand awareness, campaign performance and lead generation. Today’s marketing leaders are often expected to influence revenue, customer loyalty and long-term growth, even as research has found that many CMOs believe their roles as designed hinder their ability to maximize marketing performance outcomes.Part of the challenge is that CMOs and their executive colleagues may define growth—and marketing’s contribution to it—differently. For example, McKinsey found that 70% of CEOs measure marketing’s impact through year-over-year revenue growth and margins, while only 35% of CMOs consider those to be top metrics. CMOs may also take a longer view of brand building and customer relationships, while CEOs and CFOs face pressure to demonstrate more immediate financial returns. But even when there’s little to no C-suite agreement on priorities, timelines and measures of success, a CMO is often held responsible for delivering growth—without the necessary shared framework.Closing that gap requires more than expanding the CMO’s job description. Members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank are a curated group of experts with years of experience in marketing, including brand storytelling, digital advertising and customer engagement. Here, several of them explore the mindsets and strategies that need to change if CMOs are to have the influence, alignment and operating support needed to achieve what today’s organizations expect of them.