Dentsu Creative 2025 CMO Report: OUT NOW

Dentsu Creative has today released its annual global CMO Report, revealing that artificial intelligence is no longer "emerging" - it is embedded in everyday marketing practice - and that the value of human creativity, empathy, and cultural intelligence is more important than ever. The 2025 CMO Report, Agents of Reinvention: Marketing at the Intersection of AI and Human Ingenuity, draws on insights from 1,950+ senior marketing leaders across 14 markets. It identifies 10 key themes shaping marketing in 2025, from anticipating the algorithm and investing in intimacy, to building trust and taste in an era of Agentic AI.

The survey uncovers a fascinating set of contradictions and tensions facing the modern marketer - in a world governed by algorithms and powered by AI, humanity becomes more valuable than ever. AI is already deeply embedded in senior marketers' everyday ways of working, with almost every CMO surveyed using AI in their personal workflows, while over 30% are using it daily. Yet our study also points to a counter tension.

While CMOs are embracing AI to scale content, personalize experiences, and increase efficiency, they are also clear-eyed about the need for humanity at the core of brand building, with 87% agreeing that modern strategy will require more creativity, empathy, and humanity. 78% of CMOs assert that generative AI will never replace human imagination, a sentiment that has increased by 13 percentage points since 2024, despite many embracing the benefits of speed and efficiency.

AI is seen as a key enabler of content at scale, yet CMOs are eager to move beyond greater efficiency towards greater effectiveness and personalization. 90% of respondents want to combine agile production with intelligent data to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right moment, yet 76% identify their ability to create content at pace as a barrier to their personalization efforts.

As CMOs navigate the age of the algorithm, a world in which more and more of what we see and what we shop for is governed by algorithms and enabled by AI, they are striving to balance relevance and cut through. 71% of CMOs agree "If I don't win with the algorithm, I will be invisible", yet 79% are concerned that optimizing for the algorithm risks creating a sea of sameness.

Winning in culture emerges as a vital lever for winning with the algorithm: 84% of CMOs agree they need to win share of culture, not just share of voice, although 81% agree that there are not enough tried and tested examples of how to do it. Nevertheless, they are looking to entertainment properties, community engagement and creator collaborations to assist.

90% of CMOs believe that social and influencer content generates more engagement than traditional advertising. Moreover, 91% agree that brands today are built through partnerships between creators, platforms, and culture makers, a figure that has risen by 14 percentage points year on year (although 82% worry about giving up control). Alongside plans to invest in social and influencer content, CMOs are also planning to increase their investment in innovation, with over 70% planning to invest more than 20% of their budget in innovation going forward.

Finally, a significant majority, 89%, believe that agentic AI will have a profound effect on their business. However, the same percentage agree that trust and taste will matter more than ever in a world of agentic, where agents may curate everything from our travel plans to our shopping baskets. In a world where machines become ever more sophisticated, brand love and cultural relevance will remain vital.

Abbey Klaassen, Global Brand President, Dentsu Creative, said:

"The future of marketing is about augmenting human ingenuity with AI to enable a level of pace and personalization not previously possible. It's not about doing more with less, it's about doing things we couldn't do before: connecting creativity, media, data and production to meet the right customer with the right message in the right moment, leveraging the modern content supply chain to show up in more of those moments than was possible in the past. What we hear from our clients, and the report bears that out, is that they need seamless integration of data, AI enabled production and their existing martech stack to realize the potential of real time creativity to accelerate growth."

Yasu Sasaki, Global Chief Creative Officer, dentsu, added:

"What we clearly see in this report is that while clients are embracing AI at pace, they remain committed to the power of human craft and creativity. As we adopt AI at scale, it places an ever-greater premium on originality and innovation: AI is exceptionally good at prediction but creativity by its very nature is unpredictable. What is most exciting is when AI and human creativity come together to unlock new possibilities, spot new patterns and shape new futures. That's why we see clients committing to invest more than ever in innovation in 2026 and beyond."

Patricia McDonald, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu Creative, added:

"Today's marketers face an extraordinary series of paradoxes and contradictions. Automation is vital to keep up, humanity is vital to stand out. They must win with the algorithm or be invisible, but optimize too closely and they become indistinguishable. If every brand chases the same signals with the same tools, we are simply running harder to stand still. The result is that the more we embrace AI, the more human we must become; unearthing the deeply personal truths, grounded in culture, that resonate, differentiate and scale."

To download the full 2025 CMO Report: https://www.dentsucreative.com/news/dentsu-creative-cmo-report-2025