Just tacking on AI buzzwords to your brand doesn't inherently boost your company's appeal or relevance in the market. Real impact requires thoughtful integration and execution beyond the hype.

Headlines often declare the "death of the CMO," citing factors like flatter corporate structures, decentralized marketing, AI-generated campaigns, and automation as threats to the role’s relevance. But unlike other executives, CMOs are uniquely questioned despite marketing’s growing complexity and importance. Marketing today demands nuanced leadership—clear positioning, strategic messaging, and organizational alignment—beyond rapid execution. While AI accelerates tasks, true marketing leadership relies on judgment: understanding customers, identifying market opportunities, and uniting various business functions around growth goals. AI actually raises the bar for CMOs by making strategic decisions more crucial amid a flood of AI-generated content. Companies that treat marketing as a growth engine, not a mere cost center, will leverage AI to focus on creativity, insight, and leadership rather than cut headcount. As markets grow noisier, the best CMOs differentiate their companies by shaping strategy, brand, and customer trust, not by simply producing more content. The role will evolve with technology but remain vital, with future CMOs connecting product strategy, brand, communications, and revenue goals more deeply than ever. The "death of the CMO" is a compelling story but far from the truth—strong marketing leadership spells success in today’s competitive environment.

Salesforce is in discussions to acquire Listen Labs, an AI-driven startup specializing in marketing research for brands, with the deal valued at approximately $2 billion.

Allison Stransky is joining Boston Beer, the company behind Samuel Adams, as Chief Marketing Officer. She comes from Samsung Electronics America, where she specialized in leveraging big data and artificial intelligence to enhance marketing effectiveness. Her tech-focused approach aims to sharpen Boston Beer's data-driven marketing efforts.

Callaway Golf’s recent marketing misstep highlights the importance for brands to define and maintain strong personality guidelines, explains Gartner expert Julie Reeves.

Sarah Friar, CFO of OpenAI, revealed at a recent conference that ChatGPT's advertising approach aims to combine the best elements of Google and Meta's strategies. She also highlighted that OpenAI is on pace to hit $1 billion in yearly revenue, signaling robust growth for the company.

In my nearly two decades of experience in branding, I've witnessed many creative marketing campaigns fall short despite driving customer traffic. The missing link often lies in employee engagement—without motivated and valued employees delivering exceptional service, even the best campaigns fail to convert interest into sales. As I often share with senior leaders, the employee experience shapes the customer experience: disengaged employees lead to dissatisfied customers. This is why HR and marketing must collaborate closely, a partnership I call "Bhranding" (Branding + HR).

Branding professionals focus on attracting and engaging customers, while HR focuses on employees. However, the success of branding depends heavily on how well HR engages and empowers staff. Research from Gallup shows companies with highly engaged employees enjoy significantly higher customer loyalty, productivity, and profitability. To harness this synergy, marketing and HR should break down silos and create joint initiatives.

Five practical ways to boost sales through collaboration include: launching internal previews of campaigns to employees, conducting joint sales training to equip staff with product knowledge and brand behavior guidance, crafting employee recognition programs that celebrate brand champions, sharing inspiring employee stories as internal marketing content, and developing "Brand Lovepoints" — key customer interaction moments enhanced through coordinated efforts.

By aligning marketing's brand promise with HR’s employee engagement strategies, organizations can create emotionally connected, knowledgeable teams who deliver remarkable customer experiences—ultimately driving stronger sales results.

Coding agents are revolutionizing software development teams rapidly, while go-to-market (GTM) agents face challenges in gaining similar traction. The key difference isn't intelligence, but the depth of contextual understanding they operate within.

Creator briefs are evolving, increasingly resembling detailed AI search queries. This shift highlights how brands seek creators capable of appealing simultaneously to human audiences and machine algorithms, blending creativity with data-driven insights.

In 2026, back-to-school shoppers increasingly relied on digital tools like AI to find savings, yet those using these technologies sometimes spent more compared to shoppers who did not. This trend highlights the complex role of AI in influencing consumer behavior during the back-to-school season, blending innovation with strategic value messaging.