Marketing is experiencing a crisis of purpose. In a scenario of stagnant budgets, pressure for results, and increasingly fragmented journeys, many teams have entered automatic mode. The answer to any problem always seems to be the same: more campaigns, more investment in performance media, more deliveries in less time. But recent numbers show the limit of this model. THEGartner CMO Spend Survey 2025It reveals that more than half of the campaigns executed globally did not generate the expected sales return.
Even in the face of this warning, 55% of CMOs state that they will increase investment in performance channels in 2025. All of this while the veryROAS(return on media investment) – the indicator that measures how much a company earns for each real invested in advertising – is becoming increasingly unstable. What used to be a solid metric to guide decisions has become a thermometer of volatility. Consumer behavior is changing, channels are saturated, and the model of insisting on the same formulas is beginning to cause more wear than results.
It is in this context that Artificial Intelligence ceases to be a promise and becomes a strategic necessity. The survey indicates that 41% of CMOs already use AI to automate key tasks, and another 33% are integrating advanced technologies, including AI, to enhance the efficiency of their operations. But the most critical point is not the adoption of technology itself, but what companies are doing with this increase in speed. Without a leap in strategy and final deliverables, AI risks becoming just an accelerator of mediocrity.
The good news is that there is another way. When well applied, AI can free marketing teams from the most repetitive operational tasks, creating space for what truly matters: thinking, creating, and connecting. Here, generative AI (GenAI) plays an increasingly decisive role. Not only as a tool to analyze data or run reports, but as a partner in creating images, videos, texts, and pieces that reach the final audience with consistency, identity, and purpose. At Pupila, we see this up close every day: technology is enabling brands to create at scale, but without sacrificing originality.
But if there's one lesson that this moment teaches CMOs, it's the following: efficiency without empathy does not build a brand. Automation is welcome, but it cannot replace human sensitivity. The challenge now is to use AI to gain agility, yes, but mainly to create space for more human decisions. It's not enough to know what the consumer clicked. It is necessary to understand what he feels, what drives his choices, and what can truly create a genuine emotional connection.
While some leaders will continue to pursue scale at any cost, CMOs who understand the power of humanization, with the support of technology and not despite it — will be the ones to build brands with a real presence in people's lives. Because, in the end, marketing remains, above all, about people talking to people.
The future will belong to those who know how to combine artificial intelligence with emotional intelligence.
