NEW YORK, June 17, 2026—Today Bloomberg Media and Lippincott shared the findings of CMO Outlook 2026, a new study that captures CMOs at a pivotal moment of evolving influence and rising expectations. 

More than 500 marketing leaders globally were surveyed, providing perspectives on their most salient challenges and opportunities, and how they’re tackling them. The survey, designed in partnership with Bloomberg Media, was fielded by independent B2B market research firm NewtonX.

“CMOs sit at the center of almost every significant shift shaping global business today,” said Christine Cook, Global Chief Commercial Officer of Bloomberg Media. “Our research with Lippincott reveals that organizational alignment, more than any technological advancement or ROI alone, is often the defining factor in whether companies are truly prepared for the future.”

“In partnering with CMOs across decades, we’ve witnessed a gradual shift in how brand and marketing decisions are made within companies. Now, CMOs are being asked to drive growth and help lead transformation, but many still face organizational barriers to delivering,” said Michael D’Esopo, CEO of Lippincott. “The research suggests the next era of marketing requires a different mindset; CMOs need to recalibrate their relationships internally to advocate for long-term brand success alongside immediate performance.”

Key findings from the study include: 

As CMOs take on greater responsibility for business growth, the structures around them are still catching up.

• Only 28% of CMOs describe their influence within their organizations as very high, while 15% say they are not even the most senior marketing decision-maker at their company. 84% report difficulty aligning leadership around a marketing vision and nearly eight in ten report bureaucracy regularly interferes with decision making
• Fewer than half (44%) say marketing operates with a high degree of autonomy.
• Corporate leadership is identified as the primary source of delay for major marketing initiatives

CMOs rank long-term growth as their top priority, yet short-term performance demands dominate where their teams actually spend their time. That gap between what CMOs believe matters most and what their organizations reward day-to-day is where much of their influence gets lost.

• CMOs ranked “driving long-term sustainable growth” and “ensuring audiences recognize the value their company and its products/services delivered” as top priorities for their teams.
• In practice, meeting short-term targets and proving marketing's attributable impact monopolizes their team’s time.
• Long-term responsibilities, including brand reputation, brand perception momentum, ethical and security concerns around AI, and privacy-regulation compliance, are reduced to the lowest-ranked priorities.

Implementing AI ranks among the top three priority challenges for CMOs, ahead of ROI measurement, reflecting a spend-now, prove-later orientation across modern marketing leadership.

• Only 12% described their overall tech enablement as “excellent”.
• 11% said their organization had an “excellent” ability to adopt and innovate with new marketing technologies. 
• Short-term focus, data fragmentation, and C-suite skepticism, are the leading barriers to adoption.
• Increased investment is flowing toward AI technologies, while funding is moving away from websites and content creation, infrastructure that determines how likely a brand is to surface in LLM queries. 

CMOs recognize the value of culture-driven marketing and relevance, but face structural barriers that slow their ability to act on it.

• 80% of CMOs already investing in culture-based marketing say they would do even more if obstacles didn’t exist.
• 41% of CMOs reported feeling culturally attuned while their organization lags behind
• 31% reported equal cultural awareness between marketing and the broader business.
• 35% say it takes at least 3 weeks to execute, and another 25% say it takes more than a month.

 Please find the report and full findings here.

About Lippincott

Lippincott is a global brand, marketing and experience consultancy committed to helping companies address their most complex brand challenges. Identifying fresh opportunities and realizing brand possibilities is our specialty. Since 1943, Lippincott has produced lasting, transformative impact for clients across a range of sectors. As part of Oliver Wyman, a Marsh business, Lippincott brings high-caliber industry, risk and operational insights into our work, blending a management consultancy’s strategic rigor with a proven legacy of creativity to help clients see challenges differently. 

About Bloomberg Media

Bloomberg Media is the world’s leading multi-platform media company for business and finance, which draws on the editorial resources of more than 3,000 journalists and analysts in more than 100 bureaus around the world. Bloomberg Media is the consumer-facing media organization of Bloomberg L.P.

About NewtonX

NewtonX is an end-to-end strategic market research and data partner, turning the toughest B2B questions into decision-ready answers. Through premium-quality data, expert research services, and AI-driven technology, we help businesses uncover the actionable insights that drive growth. With verified professionals in over 140 industries, from Fortune 500 executives to niche experts, we guarantee data no one else can provide. Paired with AI-enabled insights via the NewtonX Hub, we provide businesses with the industry’s most powerful tools for analysis and decision-making. Visit newtonx.com to learn more.

Laura Schultz
+1 212 521 5501
Laura.schultz@lippincott.com