THE CMO ROLE IS BEING REWRITTEN

It’s easy to look at the latest data and conclude that marketing has a performance problem.

But that may not be the real issue.

It may be a definition problem.

Recent research from Boathouse suggests a growing disconnect inside organizations. CMOs are seen as more aligned with the business than ever before—more committed, more integrated, more attuned to enterprise priorities.

And yet, confidence in their performance is declining.

At the same time, more CEOs are viewing marketing as a cost center rather than a driver of growth.

Taken at face value, this reads as underperformance.

But step back, and a different pattern emerges.

The Illusion of Decline

For years, marketing has been moving closer to the center of the organization.

Closer to revenue.
Closer to strategy.
Closer to the CEO.

That proximity was the goal.

But proximity also changes the criteria for success.

What once counted as strong marketing—brand building, creative impact, cultural relevance—is now being evaluated against broader business outcomes: growth, efficiency, transformation, shareholder value.

The role hasn’t just expanded.

It has changed categories.

And in many organizations, it’s still unclear what that category actually is.

A Role Without a Fixed Definition

One of the most telling indicators doesn’t come from a single study, but from the structure of the role itself.

Executive search firm Spencer Stuart has long observed that there is less than 10% overlap between CMO roles when comparing searches.

By contrast, a role like CFO shows roughly 90% consistency.

In other words:

There is no standard definition of what a CMO is supposed to do.

And increasingly, there may not even be a single role at all.

A study from NewtonX found that:

• 28% of senior marketers now own revenue growth
• And roughly a third of S&P 500 companies no longer have a traditional CMO role

Responsibilities are expanding in some organizations—into growth, product, and customer experience. In others, they are being redistributed across functions.

The title remains. But the meaning is fluid.

The Role’s Evolution in Three Directions

Rather than a single trajectory, the CMO role is evolving in multiple directions at once.

1. Expansion

Marketing leaders are being asked to own more—revenue, customer experience, product influence, even elements of operations.

This brings marketing closer to the core of the business than ever before.

But it also stretches the role beyond its traditional boundaries.

2. Fragmentation

In some organizations, the opposite is happening.

Marketing responsibilities are being split across growth, digital, brand, and customer teams—sometimes eliminating the need for a single, centralized CMO role altogether.

The function doesn’t disappear.

It disperses.

3. Compression

At the same time, expectations are accelerating.

Shorter timelines.
More scrutiny.
Greater demand for measurable impact.

The rise of AI only intensifies this dynamic:

• experimentation is widespread
• proven impact is still emerging

Marketing is being asked to deliver results faster—often before the systems to measure those results are fully in place.

The Measurement Gap

This may be where the real tension lies.

Expectations have evolved faster than the frameworks used to evaluate them.

Marketing is now expected to:

• drive growth
• shape perception
• influence strategy
• deliver efficiency

But the way success is measured often lags behind that complexity.

This creates a structural gap between what marketing is asked to do and what organizations recognize as value.

How Leaders Are Actually Responding

This helps explain a broader pattern that extends beyond any single dataset.

Across industry conversations—from CEO studies to forums like ANA Masters of Marketing Conference—a consistent theme emerges:

Marketing is no longer judged solely on what it produces.

It’s judged on how it contributes…

To growth.
To resilience.
To long-term value creation.

And those contributions are harder to isolate, attribute, and quantify in traditional ways.

From Role to Responsibility

Which raises a more fundamental question: If the role itself is evolving, what does marketing leadership actually represent?

It may be less about a fixed position…

…and more about a set of responsibilities that move across the organization.

Connecting functions.
Translating value.
Interpreting signals from the market and turning them into action.

In that sense, the future of the CMO role may not be a clearer definition.

It may be a more fluid one.

What Comes Next

The current moment can look like a decline.

Lower confidence.
More scrutiny.
Uncertain expectations.

But it may be something else entirely.

A transition.

From a role defined by discipline…
to one defined by impact.

From marketing as a function…
to marketing as a capability embedded across the business.

And from success measured in outputs…
to success understood through outcomes.

A New Seat

Marketing has spent years earning a seat at the table.

Now, the question is not whether it belongs there.

It’s how its contribution is understood once it arrives.

Because if the role of the CMO no longer has a single definition…

then performance won’t have a single measure either.

And the next phase of marketing leadership will be shaped not by alignment alone—

but by the ability to make that alignment visible, credible, and real.

This is where marketing begins to move from intent to impact.