What’s Next for Marketers — After ANA Masters and Beyond AI
Each year, the ANA Masters of Marketing serves as a barometer for what’s truly on marketers’ minds. This year’s gathering in Orlando, one of the best in the organization’s long history, overflowed with stories of reinvention, optimism, and creative courage. Yet, as the applause settled, the lingering question was not what worked—but what’s next.
If the early 2020s were defined by digital acceleration, this mid-decade moment feels like the “never-normal,” a term coined by global innovation expert Peter Hinssen, who opened the conference. Innovation is constant, but so are disruption and doubt.
He reminded us that in a world of “polycrisis” (the U.K. word of the year), marketers must learn to “build a positive narrative,” and lead amid uncertainty— echoing Voltaire’s famous observation:
“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.”
That insight captures marketing’s new reality. It’s no longer about surviving the next wave, but about staying human through all of them.
From AI to the AI Condition — The Human Element
Artificial Intelligence once again dominated the Masters stage, yet the most forward-looking speakers treated it less as a headline and more as the context of marketing itself.
Melanie Huet, President, Home & Commercial for Newell Brands, captured the moment succinctly: “AI didn’t replace creativity. It amplified it.” Her teams now use AI personas—as both ideal and problem consumers—to spark empathy and uncover new insights.
Even Lara Balazs, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Marketing at Adobe, admitted, “For a long time, the CMO role, the role of the marketer, was about the stories we tell, the splash we make, the ROI we drive. We need to do that, but we’re being asked to step into a bigger role– to be the Chief Transformation Architects. AI doesn’t take the wheel; it enhances the process.”
Shelly Palmer, CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps corporations with technology, media, and marketing, called AI “a leadership challenge, not a tech problem.” He asserted, “You are the architect of the future. Roll up your sleeves, lead from the front. Understand what you are doing and why. Then focus on outcomes and find the best technology to achieve it.”
Shelly Palmer with ANA’s CEO Bob Liodice during the Q&A session following Palmer’s presentation.
The takeaway?
AI may power the tools, but people must power customer trust.
The marketers who thrive will be those who design how technology serves imagination—not the other way around. As Peter Hinssen urged in his opening, “Recognize that creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking are now leadership’s most valuable algorithms.”
The Re-Humanization of Brands — From Insight to Intimacy
Amid the noise of technology, humanity took center stage.
Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer of The Procter & Gamble Company, emphasized “timeless creativity” built on five “tried and true” lessons. The first two principles, however, are absolutely fundamental, but also deceptively simple: “Know your consumer better than anyone. Know your brand better than anyone.”
Norm de Greve, Chief Marketing Officer at General Motors, shared how bringing marketing closer to the product raised brand consideration by 20 percent. He said, “GM moved from buyers of marketing to makers of marketing.” After describing GM’s rebirth, he added, “This is more than a comeback sport; it’s a company rediscovering its soul.”
United’s Maggie Schmerin, the airline’s Chief Advertising Officer, reminded us that “the biggest threat is being irrelevant.” She asked, “Does your brand matter?” According to Schmerin, United’s 3-year-old Good Leads the Way ethos “is much more than a marketing campaign. It is how we show up, and it began with our employees.”
Tim Ellis, the NFL’s (National Football League) Chief Marketing Officer, shared innovative marketing strategies redefining how the league engages fans and expands its audience, leveraging culture, fashion, and art to forge authentic player–fan connections. He also noted that true authenticity sometimes means “being willing not to please everyone.”
WPP Media’s Brian Lesser reminded the audience that Dove’s AI effort to redefine Real Beauty algorithms demonstrates that humanity is the ultimate differentiator. This extraordinary work won many awards, including a Cannes Lion and a Grand Prix in The Internationalist’s AI for Better Marketing Awards.
Together, these marketers underscore what the Havas Meaningful Brands study revealed this summer: most brands are failing to keep up with the pace of change and are losing relevance. People would not care if 4 out of 5 brands disappeared tomorrow—and the situation is getting worse, up by 5 percentage points from 2024.
Consumers don’t need more messages—they need meaning. In a distracted marketplace, relevance is earned through resonance. In an automated world, care may yet become the most undervalued growth driver.
Back to Brilliant Basics — The Fundamentals Still Win
If AI is the accelerant, brand fundamentals remain the foundation.
Todd Kaplan, Chief Marketing Officer for North America at The Kraft Heinz Company, clearly made the case for brand building.
He opened by saying, “Consumers are distracted, not engaged, or paying attention. Given the volume of choices and messages, people aren’t waiting to receive your message — it may have been delivered, but they are not engaging with it. Data tells you who buys your brand most often. It doesn’t tell you if they’re loyal. Frequency is not Brand Loyalty. There is always another brand waiting in the wings, offering a lower price or better service.”
He added, “A true brand is so much more than a product. It is based on culture and meaning, as well as a deep understanding of the consumer. A true brand can be culturally vibrant and consistent over time.”
Kaplan also compared brand building to Pointillism, the 19th-century technique developed by French artists in which dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image, not unlike how pixels on a screen create an image today: “Built one dot at a time—simple and complex, and you can’t look away. Each interaction is a dot; together they form the picture of your brand.”
His “case for brand building” reminded the room that frequency is not loyalty and that mental real estate still matters. (And in the category of “great minds think alike,” another industry leader, Ulli Appelbaum recently published a new book on The Science of Brand Associations, which he calls “the hidden operating system of marketing.”)
Mathilde Delhoume-Debreu, Global Brand Officer of LVMH, reminded the audience, “You need to surprise the customer at every step and build an emotional bond.”
Among her many remarkable brand examples, she shared how LOEWE’s collaboration with Suna Fujita, a much-loved Japanese husband-and-wife team who create hand-painted ceramics inspired by childhood stories, became a sold-out sensation when LOEWE featured these magical characters on items ranging from artisan-crafted bags to clothing, accessories, candles, and ceramics.
United’s Maggie Schmerin calls it “doing the small things right.”
Kyall Mai, Chief Innovation Officer at Esquire Bank, one of Fortune’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies, reminded the audience, “AI teaches you who to talk to. Brand tells them why they should listen.”
Another marketer who took the ANA stage in the past, Colin Westcott-Pitt, for his work with Heineken and the “Most Interesting Man in the World” Dos Equis campaign, is now CMO of Glanbia Performance Nutrition and recently discussed building a billion-dollar brand through “brilliant basics.”
In a decade obsessed with disruption, these leaders argued that brilliant basics are the new innovation.
Purpose Evolved — From Preaching to Participating
While “purpose” was mentioned less often onstage, it pulsed through the most effective stories of growth.
Don McGuire, Chief Marketing Officer at Qualcomm, turned Snapdragon processors from a B2B tech component into a cultural icon by demonstrating that building a brand means adding relevance and doing good in the world.
Snapdragon has aligned with the F1 Academy in support of the first female driver; they’ve used their Manchester United jersey sponsorship for RED, the HIV charity, and are underwriting STEM education.
“Our tech is great on its own, but we have to reach beyond it—align with purpose-driven partners to bring it home for consumers.”
Hernán Tantardini, Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo Foods US, grounded the Lay’s potato chip brand in farming culture, leading to its complete transformation.
According to Tantardini, “Forty percent of people don’t know that Lay’s are made from real potatoes. We are committed to celebrating first-generation growers and sustainable farming through regenerative agriculture. Plus, we’re telling better stories about our farmers, who are real heroes. And now, we’re bringing those stories to our bags.”
LVMH’s Mathilde Delhoume-Debreu showed how imagination, brand attributes, and public concern can drive sustainability. The 1837 Tiffany Blue® Conservation campaign redefines Tiffany’s iconic blue color, spotlighting The Tiffany & Co. Foundation’s commitment to ocean conservation. In partnership with Pantone to connect Tiffany Blue® with the oceans where marine life is at risk, LVMH has turned the color of a box associated with some of life’s most meaningful moments into a symbol of conservation.
Daniel Kleinman, Chief Brand Officer of Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, proved that gratitude fuels growth: “People aren’t one-dimensional; brands shouldn’t be either.”
The company’s “Joshgiving“ initiative, launched by the Josh Cellars winery, encourages giving back during the holidays —a tradition started by founder Joseph Carr to honor his father’s legacy of volunteerism. Josh Cellars partners with other people named Josh, like singer Josh Groban, to lead community acts of thanks, with past campaigns including donations to organizations such as Sing for Hope and American Humane’s Pups4Patriots program.
“Purposeful acts and purposeful promotions have helped us grow.”
The evolution is clear: purpose now lives in participation, not preaching. It’s not about saying the right thing; it’s about showing how you care—and letting others join you.
Marketing in Beta Mode — Resilience as a Skill
Several speakers demonstrated that crises are now a constant condition.
Nichole Robillard, Chief Marketing Officer of Red Lobster, with Katy Hornaday, CEO of the restaurant’s agency, BarkleyOKRP, turned bankruptcy into “Reel Happiness.” Their Red Carpet formula—RED: Recognize, Engage, Delight—empowered employees as frontline marketers and reignited pride inside the organization. Robillard’s first rule is: Protect what’s precious and know when to pivot. She admitted, “We lost sight of being hospitable—even as a hospitality company.”
MilkPEP’s CEO Yin Woon Rani put it bluntly: “Nobody cares about your product unless you encourage them to.” Her team rebuilt dairy milk’s relevance not through nostalgia but by creating culture—from gamer energy drinks to Wood Milk parodies. Milk didn’t go viral; it went cultural.
Dan Kleinman outlined how the launch of Josh Cellars’ Seaswept wine was a direct response to the wine industry’s challenge of making wine more approachable for younger consumers. “We moved away from wine snob and started ‘speaking social’ in their world. It’s a wine that refreshes the rules through tumblers, ice, and a hangout vibe. Our take-to-the-beach wine backpack was a runaway hit.” Seaswept became the new wine innovation of 2024.
These stories redefine success. The most adaptive brands aren’t just fixing problems—they’re building muscle for what’s next.
From Campaigns to Worlds — Community as Currency
Brian Lesser, Chief Executive Officer of WPP Media, in an inspiring address, urged marketers to move from tactical campaigns to strategic “world-building”—evergreen ecosystems that merge data, creativity, and community.
The principle is simple: campaigns persuade; worlds immerse.
Community, not communication, is becoming marketing’s most powerful medium. As WPP’s Brian Lesser noted, “Future growth won’t be bought; it will be built.”
Snapdragon, MilkPEP, and Lay’s each demonstrated how brands that create culture don’t chase attention—they earn it.
LVMH‘s association with the Paris 2024 Olympics was a breakthrough in sports partnerships, transforming the company from a traditional sponsor into a creative collaborator and curator of the Games. Rather than simply placing advertisements, LVMH’s luxury brands were integrated into key elements of the event, showcasing French craftsmanship and excellence on a global stage– with extraordinary creativity and impact.
The next wave of brand growth will depend on how completely a company’s values can be experienced rather than advertised. Also consider an earlier Commentary piece entitled, “We’re All Marketers Now.”
The Re-Definition of the CMO
The “operational CMO” emerged quietly but powerfully across Masters sessions. Additionally, there seemed to be a great “humility” among marketing leaders, given that it’s impossible to know it all in today’s fast-changing world.
Norm de Greve at GM described rebuilding marketing architecture from the ground up. Kyall Mai of Esquire Bank called for “inside-out transformation,” beginning with a leadership mindset.
Red Lobster’s Nichole Robillard reminds us, ” Marketing is also spelled operations. If we want our business to support marketing, we have to support them.”
Together, these views point to a redefinition of marketing leadership—from storyteller to systems designer, particularly in an AI world.
The future CMO is equal parts Chief Meaning Officer and Chief Mechanism Officer—building the machinery of trust while ensuring it runs on AI tools without forgetting about the viability of purpose.
A Call to What’s Next
So, what comes after Masters—and beyond AI?
A new kind of marketing discipline: one forged in perma-crisis, grounded in empathy, enriched by communities, and led by those who can unify art, analytics, and accountability.
If 2024 was about mastering AI, 2025—and everything beyond—will be about mastering meaning.
Because in an age of automation and apathy, the most radical act for a marketer is still the most human one: to make people care.
