Twenty-seven percent of chief marketing officers (CMOs) report that their marketing organisation has limited or no GenAI adoption in marketing campaigns, according to a survey by Gartner.
A survey of 418 marketing leaders conducted in July through September 2024 found that while some organisations have adopted AI at a rapid pace, some organisations have yet to embrace the technology.
“Many believe GenAI will transform marketing, but despite the hype, many CMOs feel that their GenAI investments have yet to pay off,” says Suzanne Schwartz, senior director analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice.
Although CMOs have concerns regarding return on investment, many organisations are experiencing benefits from GenAI adoption: Nearly half (47%) report a large benefit from adopting GenAI for evaluation and reporting in their campaigns.
High-performing marketing organisations are integrating GenAI at a faster pace than their peers. High performers were organisations that were 1,3x more successful in overachieving year-on-year profit growth margins and were able to meet or exceed all their marketing objectives related to customer acquisition, customer retention, and revenue growth from existing customers.
The survey found that of organisations that have adopted GenAI, 77% have adopted it for creative development tasks. This rises to 84% of high performers. Similarly, 48% of organisations that have adopted GenAI have adopted it for strategy development, rising to 52% of high performers.
“The most successful marketing organisations are leading the way when it comes to GenAI adoption,” says Greg Carlucci, senior director analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “They’re leveraging AI for tasks such as content creation, campaign planning and strategy development in order to optimize campaigns and drive their organisation forward.”
While 44,5% of the total marketing budget is spent on campaigns and media plans, the majority of CMOs are dissatisfied with campaign performance. On average, 87% of CMOs report they experienced campaign performance issues in the last 12 months, with 45% reporting that they sometimes, often, or always had occasion to terminate campaigns early in the last year due to poor performance.
While many CMOs are their own harshest critics, they also report that campaign success is hindered by other members of the C-suite. Thirty-one percent of marketing leaders say that finance is the function that most impedes successful execution of marketing campaigns, followed by executive leadership (26%) and sales (26%).
“It’s vital for CMOs to foster connections with their counterparts in finance, sales and executive leadership in order to reduce barriers to marketing’s success,” said Schwartz. “By using a data-driven approach to decision making, marketing leaders can better communicate their strategy to the C-suite, reducing friction with leaders from other functions.”