“AI is a tool, not a strategy,” said Hiatt, who added that CEOs should remember that CMOs aren’t selling a clever idea, they’re delivering what a brand needs most—consumers. “At the end of the day, with marketing, you’re buying a customer,” she said. “We’re not talking about that enough.”
Explain why leadership is critical
Sclater pointed out that while AI may be able to generate content, that’s no replacement for a marketing leader that can serve as coach, interlocutor, decision maker, and innovator.
“In the absence of a CMO, we’re just running a relay race, and business becomes the handoff to another handoff—by the time you get to the end, where is the customer?” Sclater said. “There will always be a need to bring things together, to bring ideas together around a central mission of serving a customer.”
Maintain consistency where algorithms can’t
As AI is able to generate endless permutations of a brand AI, the CMO ultimately becomes the last guarantor of tradition, recognizability, and solidity.
“The CMO holds tight to the brand,” Sclater said. “If there isn’t a place where the purity or the essence is distilled and strong, inherently the algorithm will move to create different versions of it. The CMO at its best is also kind of keeping that purity, keeping that consistency.”
