AI is embedded: Almost all CMOs use AI, with 30% using it daily.
Creativity counts: 78% say AI will never replace human imagination (+13pts YOY).
Culture rules: 91% believe brands are built through creators and culture makers.
Algorithm paradox: 71% say “win with the algorithm or be invisible,” yet 79% fear sameness.
Influencer spend surges: 1 in 4 CMOs plan to allocate 30%+ of budgets to social and influencers.
Innovation imperative: 70% plan to invest more than 20% of budgets in innovation.
Dentsu Creative has 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.
A world powered by AI and governed by algorithms creates an ever greater demand for intimate human understanding of people, communities and fandoms. It calls on us to identify culturally specific micro-insights with potential to travel beautifully. To leverage rich cultural intelligence to help brands scale community first. To embrace depth, surprise and serendipity alongside AI’s promise of scale, predictability and order.
It is this balance that today’s CMOs are seeking; the coming together of craft and technology, AI and human truth. Winning with the algorithm will mean being both brilliantly automated and brilliantly human. Bringing the two threads together will work harder still, augmenting humanity and humanizing technology.
Discover ways to tackle the challenges this presents and drive growth while balancing winning in culture with winning in commerce.
To download the full 2025 CMO Report, visit the Dentsu Creative global site:
www.dentsucreative.com/news/dentsu-creative-cmo-report-2025
01
ANTICIPATE THE ALGORITHM
71% of CMOs agree “If I don’t win with the algorithm, I will be invisible”, yet 79% agree that “Optimizing for the algorithm risks creating a sea of sameness”.
Winning with the algorithm means leading, not following. The winners will be those who understand at a bone-deep, structural level what drives fandoms and ignites culture, and who have the confidence to engage the few to reach the many.
02
INVEST IN INTIMACY
Perhaps counter-intuitively, what wins with the algorithm is humanity. The irreplaceable human-to-human insight that sparks recognition, the outliers that unlock innovation provide vital differentiation.
86% of CMOs agree that “Hearing from real customers is more important than ever in an AI-driven world”, with 41% agreeing strongly. Overall agreement rises to 94% in China and 90% in South Africa. 87% agree that “Modern strategy will require more creativity, empathy and humanity”.
03
CONNECTING IDEAS
Today’s CMOs overwhelmingly agree that brands today must be co-created.
91% agree that in the future, brand building will be a partnership between brands, creators and platforms (+14 percentage points year on year). This figure rises to 98% in China and Australia. 87% agree engaging communities is a powerful lever to scale brand impact. 82% however worry about giving up control, up 22 percentage points YOY.
04
INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME
Given the importance of co-creation, it’s unsurprising to see that CMOs are planning to significantly increase their influencer investment, thinking strategically about the role of influencer content in driving visibility and conversion.
90% believe that social and influencer content generates more engagement than traditional advertising, while 89% believe that real, relatable creators drive better performance than celebrities, rising to 96% in China. 39% are planning to invest between 20-30% of their budgets in social and influencer marketing going forward.
05
THE CULTURE CONUNDRUM
While marketers instinctively agree that brands today are built through culture, few feel confident to do it consistently and at global scale.
81% agree “The future is about building my brand through culture, but there aren't enough tried and tested examples of how to do it” while 40% agree that knowing how or where their brand should credibly connect to culture is a significant challenge.
06
THE INNOVATION IMPERATIVE
As tried and tested techniques prove less effective, innovation is no longer a nice-to-have but a must have.
40% of marketers plan to allocate 20-30% of their marketing budgets against innovation in 2025 / 2026, while in a world where the pace of disruption is constantly accelerating, 90% agree that they want innovation against their most urgent business challenges, not as a side project.
07
ARTIFICIAL ASSISTANCE
AI is already integral to CMO’s personal working habits. This fuels a desire for transparency around agency workflows, and new conversations on agency pricing models, but also rapidly changing attitudes to the role of AI versus human craft and creativity.
88% agree smart agencies will move quickly beyond using AI to drive efficiency, towards using AI to drive impact and effectiveness - rising to 94% in APAC and 98% in China and India.
08
HUMAN EXPERIENCE
As marketers feel less confident reaching customers through traditional channels, building brands through experiences remains key; even if the experiences of the future look very different to today.
86% agree that “Brands today are built through experiences” yet interestingly, some 73% agree that “AI is at risk of making my brand experience less impactful.” Intelligent personalization and innovative new interfaces are seen as key to delivering creative brand experiences.
09
INTELLIGENT CONTENT
Scale for scale’s sake is losing appeal; today’s CMOs seek dynamic, relevant content oriented around the customer journey: the right message in the right moment to balance efficiency and effectiveness.
They believe craft remains vital in a world where a sea of sameness and “slop” can all too easily arise. 90% agree that craft and design are vital for ensuring brands remain distinctive, rising to 98% in China.
10
IN TASTE WE TRUST
CMOs anticipate that Agentic AI will enable leaps forward in customer experience and personalization, but believe trust, taste and brand preference will become more important than ever before.
Globally, 89% agree “Agentic AI will have a significant effect on my business” while CMOs in China and the US anticipate particularly strong impacts. However 89% agree “Trust and taste matter more than ever in the world of Agentic AI” and 90% that strong brand preference will be vital in an Agentic world if brands are to retain their place in the shopping basket.
To download the full 2025 CMO Report, visit the Dentsu Creative global site:
www.dentsucreative.com/news/dentsu-creative-cmo-report-2025
METHODOLOGY
A 15-minute online survey was designed by dentsu, and was scripted, hosted and monitored by B2B International, a dentsu company specialized in market research studies. Fieldwork took place in April 2025, surveying 1,950 global respondents. We spoke to 1,950 senior marketing decision makers across 14 markets in a range of sectors and with representation from companies in the Enterprise (1,000+ employees), Large (251-1,000 employees), and SMB (50-250 employees) categories. The objective was to explore the role of creativity and the creative experience among senior marketing professionals across Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
ABOUT DENTSU CREATIVE
Dentsu Creative is a global creative agency network designed to unlock exponential growth for clients. We use Transformative Creativity as a differentiating, driving force to bring our capabilities together to positively impact people, businesses and society. Established in 2022, Dentsu Creative is integrated with dentsu’s Media and CXM businesses in over 145 countries and regions, to offer end-to-end solutions to clients globally.
www.dentsucreative.com
ABOUT DENTSU
Dentsu is an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world’s leading organizations. Founded in 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, and now present in over 120 countries and regions, it has a proven track record of nurturing and developing innovations, combining the talents of its global network of leadership brands to develop impactful and integrated growth solutions for clients. Dentsu delivers end-to-end experience transformation (EX) by integrating its services across Media, CXM and Creative, while its business transformation (BX) mindset pushes the boundaries of transformation and sustainable growth for brands, people and society.
Dentsu, Innovating to Impact.
www.dentsu.com
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CONTACT US
DentsuCreativeChina@dentsu.com
