The A-shaped advantage
How CMOs can become
A-shaped for success
The A-shaped advantage
How CMOs can become A-shaped for success
Marketing leaders are facing a transformation crisis. The C-suite already sees CMOs as the least AI savvy member of the boardroom. And, while 65% of CMOs believe AI will reshape their role, only 32% think they need to upskill themselves to keep pace.
That inertia ends here. Success now demands a rewrite of the CMO playbook.
The old debates of brand versus demand, art versus science, emotion versus logic need to evolve with the AI era. Creative instinct and analytical precision aren’t enough on their own. Today’s marketing leaders also need operational mastery.
Now, to lead in the age of agentic AI, marketers need to become A-shaped: one leg firmly in the human, emotional world; the other rooted in data and rationalism; with the A’s crossbar of operational excellence connecting both, to successfully drive impact and action.
This report isn’t just about spotlighting the gap, it’s about showing the path forward. Drawing on new research with marketing leaders across the UK and Ireland, it reveals how the CMO role is expanding beyond traditional marketing practices and into AI workflows, technology infrastructures and transformation leadership.
It unpacks the opportunities and anxieties around the agentic AI marketing revolution. And it maps out how CMOs can become the A-shaped leader needed today, who will lead their team, their C-suite and their company to success.
Because the future belongs to CMOs who can turn AI ambition into scalable transformation – before inertia becomes irrelevance.
What CMOs think
they’re a leading voice in their organization’s AI strategy
that agentic AI will unlock greater value for the entire marketing department
bridging human emotion with data rationalism is key to CMO development
but...
have never used agentic AI
only
connect brand storytelling, data-driven strategy and AI innovation to drive growth
