Growth Multiplied: The CMO's New Era of Intelligence, Intuition, and Impact
- Marwa Kaabour
- May 26
- 3 min read
Once upon a time, growth was the finish line. It was the single metric we chased, celebrated, and optimized toward. But in 2025, the narrative has evolved.
We’re no longer in the age of growth. We’ve entered the era of growth multiplied.
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of chairing the Marketing Leaders Conference, hosted by Marcus Evans Group in collaboration with the CMO Council and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Across three days of dialogue with global CMOs, industry titans, and marketing futurists from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and beyond, one thing became abundantly clear:
The CMO is no longer a communicator-in-chief. We are architects of transformation.
AI Is Not the Enemy. It’s the Engine.
The era of AI anxiety in marketing is waning. The narrative is maturing—and so are the tools. What once seemed like a threat to creative jobs is now emerging as the ultimate productivity amplifier. Multimodal AI—where language, visuals, audio, and data converge—is already reshaping the marketer’s playbook.
Companies like Unilever are embedding AI co-pilots into campaign development. L’Oréal is using AI to tailor beauty experiences across regions, skin tones, and platforms. Coca-Cola’s "Create Real Magic" campaign, powered by OpenAI and Bain, let consumers generate personalized branded artwork—at scale, and with astonishing engagement metrics.
These aren’t experiments. They are signals.
AI is now a creative catalyst, a data decoder, and an efficiency engine rolled into one. And when embedded into marketing workflows—from segmentation and sentiment analysis to real-time personalization—AI doesn’t just replace effort. It multiplies outcome.
The Rise of the CMO as a Force Multiplier
At its core, this evolution is about scale. With AI-augmented planning and automation, CMOs can now unlock 10x returns—not by doing more, but by focusing better. AI helps us outsource the repetitive and reinvest in the meaningful: strategic insight, cultural fluency, storytelling.
The best CMOs today are not just digitally fluent—they are multilingual in data, brand, and emotion. They are reshaping their organizations to be:
Agile in execution
Empathetic in engagement
Intentional in innovation
In other words: CMOs are becoming curators of meaning in a world drowning in content.
The Power of Cultural Intelligence
But here’s the caveat. No AI—no matter how advanced—can replicate cultural intelligence. No predictive model can capture the full nuance of identity, memory, or social tension. This is why the most powerful brand strategies remain rooted in human observation.
When Nike honors athletes who break social norms, or when Dove reclaims narratives around beauty, what you’re witnessing isn’t an algorithm. It’s cultural intuition. It’s brand bravery.
The data may tell us where to go. But only intuition tells us why it matters.
Emotional Storytelling: The Enduring Edge
In a panel with global leaders from Microsoft and Amazon, we discussed a common paradox: as content becomes more optimized, it risks becoming more forgettable. Emotional storytelling—grounded in truth, vulnerability, and purpose—is what pierces the noise.
This is the new battleground for brand loyalty: not just product performance, but emotional performance. Not just reach, but resonance.
Consider how Apple’s "Shot on iPhone" campaign turned user-generated content into cinematic inspiration. Or how LVMH uses emotional heritage to elevate luxury storytelling into a timeless art. These campaigns aren't just seen—they’re felt.
The CMO's True Mandate: Tech + Truth
To every marketing leader reading this: The future isn’t something we observe. It’s something we shape. Master the algorithms. Embrace the data. Use every tool at your disposal.
But do not lose your grip on the intangible. The poetry. The provocation. The pause.
Because the brands that will define the next decade won’t be the ones that shouted the loudest—they’ll be the ones that connected the deepest.
Welcome to the era of growth multiplied. Let’s build it with intelligence, with intention—and with imagination.
Commentaires