Strategy

CMO strategy, operations & the road ahead.

37 articles

AI Advertising Rewrites Search Marketing Playbooks Today

AI advertising is changing how search campaigns find customers, choose creative, and measure value. The winning playbook starts with better inputs, not more automation.

August 31, 2026

Google Demand Gen Rewrites Performance Marketing Strategy

Google Demand Gen is becoming more than a campaign type. Here is what its AI video, messaging, and discovery changes mean for performance marketing teams.

August 30, 2026

Customer Lifecycle Marketing Changes Paid Media Economics

Customer lifecycle marketing is changing paid media from a last-click race into a customer value system. Here is how to build the inputs that make it work.

August 26, 2026

AI Made Agencies Faster. That’s the Problem.

AI agency pricing is entering a rough reset as clients demand a share of productivity gains. The winners will sell judgment, not cheaper production.

August 8, 2026

AI Max Is Google’s New Ad Contract

Google Ads AI Max is becoming the default path for more campaigns. The real risk is not automation itself, but losing control of the promise behind every click.

August 8, 2026

The AI Marketing Skills That Matter More in 2026

AI is taking over more marketing execution, but the best human skills are getting harder to fake. Here are the capabilities that will separate strategy from button pushing.

August 7, 2026

AI Advertising Platforms Are Becoming Your Media Buyer in 2026

AI advertising platforms are taking over targeting, creative, and budgets. The advantage is shifting from campaign control to evidence, guardrails, and proof.

August 6, 2026

AI Martech Consolidation Tests Marketing Strategy

AI martech consolidation is accelerating, but fewer tools won't fix weak strategy. Here's what marketing leaders should protect, measure, and rebuild now.

August 6, 2026

AI Rebuilds Marketing Teams Through Strategic Accountability

AI marketing teams are becoming decision systems, not production shops. Winners will redesign ownership, judgment, and measurement before adding tools.

August 5, 2026

Why AI Marketing Teams Are Turning Into Intelligence Teams

AI marketing teams are breaking down silos, but shared intelligence can also spread bad assumptions faster. The next advantage is disciplined human judgment.

August 4, 2026

AI Marketing Has a Briefing Problem

AI is making marketing teams faster, but not necessarily better. The missing advantage is richer audience intelligence before the prompt ever reaches the model.

August 1, 2026

The CMO's New Mandate: Infrastructure, Not Just Ideas

90% of CMOs say AI is reshaping brand discovery. The problem: most marketing teams aren't built for the operational discipline that demands.

July 27, 2026

AI Infrastructure Spending Cannibalizes Marketing Budgets

Enterprise AI spending hit $64 billion in 2026, but the money isn't new. Companies are redirecting marketing budgets and cutting staff to fund AI infrastructure. Here's what that means for marketers.

July 20, 2026

Apple's $4.88 Trillion Comeback

Apple just unseated Nvidia as the world's most valuable company. It's not about hardware dominance. It's about which AI future investors actually want to bet on.

July 19, 2026

Apple's $4.88T Flip: Why AI Margins Are Collapsing

Apple just dethroned Nvidia as the world's most valuable company. Here's what that means for AI infrastructure, CMO budgets, and your vendor strategy.

July 19, 2026

Google Smart Bidding Will Double Your CPA

On August 17, Google stops letting budget-limited campaigns quietly beat their targets. Your actual CPA moves toward the number you typed in months ago.

July 19, 2026

AI Costs Don't End at Tokens

AI marketing costs include retries, review, shared systems, and unused capacity. Build a budget around accepted work and inspect the contract behind the price.

July 18, 2026

Google's Ask Advisor Quietly Rewrites Marketing Strategy

Google's Ask Advisor unifies your ad stack in one AI agent. The company selling your ad inventory now writes your optimization strategy. Here's what breaks.

July 17, 2026

The CMO Skill Crisis Nobody Trained You For

65% of CMOs expect AI to disrupt their role. Only 32% think they need new skills. That blind spot is costing brands millions in misallocated budget and bad judgment calls.

July 16, 2026

AI Is 87% of Publicis Revenue

Publicis just reported 87% of revenue from AI-powered marketing in H1 2026 while its consulting division declined. Here's what it means for agencies and brands.

July 16, 2026

When Fast Breaks

Google scrapped Gemini 3.5 Pro's base model mid-training. What that actually means for the AI race.

July 13, 2026

Tech Layoffs Hit 2026: What Marketers Need to Know

Oracle, Samsung, and others are cutting headcount faster than expected. Here's what the broader trend means for your budget and your team.

July 7, 2026

Haaland Just Buried Brazil

Norway's World Cup upset over Brazil is a masterclass in strategic positioning. Here is what brands can learn from doing the unfashionable thing and winning.

July 5, 2026

Zero-Cost AI Is Marketing's Biggest Existential Threat

AI API pricing is in free fall. Claude Sonnet 5 slashed agent costs, OpenAI is weighing drastic cuts, and DeepSeek is already free. Cheap AI sounds like a win for marketing teams. It's actually a trap.

July 4, 2026