For years, marketing leaders have been judged on brand awareness, creativity and customer engagement. But as businesses become increasingly focused on measurable growth, the role of the CMO is changing.
For Julia Payne, the shift is clear: the modern CMO cannot operate purely as a custodian of brand. They must understand revenue, operations and commercial strategy as deeply as they understand audiences.
“The role of marketing leaders has fundamentally evolved,” Payne argues.
“Today’s CMOs are expected to be creatively, commercially and operationally fluent.”
That change reflects a wider transformation in how companies think about growth.
Boards are increasingly focused on attribution data, AI-assisted forecasting, fragmented customer journeys and rising acquisition costs. Marketing is no longer viewed as a standalone creative function, but as a critical driver of business performance.
For Payne, the question facing CMOs is not whether marketing still matters. It is whether marketing leaders are willing to expand their remit.
The end of creative-first marketing
The changing expectations placed on CMOs are visible in some of the world’s biggest companies.
In 2017, Coca-Cola removed its global CMO role and moved marketing responsibilities into a Chief Growth Officer structure under Francisco Crespo.
At the time, many interpreted the decision as evidence that traditional marketing leadership was losing influence.
However, when the CMO role returned in 2019 under Manolo Arroyo, the remit had expanded to include marketing and operations.
“We know consumer needs are changing faster and faster, and it is critical for the company to be agile in how it responds and adapts,” Arroyo said at the time.
By 2026, Coca-Cola expanded Arroyo’s responsibilities further, moving additional customer and commercial leadership responsibilities away from CFO John Murphy.
“We’re managing to drive revenue, volume and transactions. Obviously, marketing and innovation are the major drivers of the growth of our company,” Arroyo said.
For Payne, the lesson is that marketing has not become less important. Instead, its role has become broader.
“Creativity remains essential, particularly in an increasingly AI-saturated market,” she says.
“But creativity alone is no longer enough at board level. CMOs must also demonstrate commercial fluency.”
Becoming the CMO 2.0
One of the biggest challenges for modern businesses is alignment.
Marketing teams focus on awareness and demand generation. Sales teams focus on conversion. Finance teams focus on margins and profitability. Customer teams focus on retention.
The problem, Payne argues, is that these functions often operate through separate systems, metrics and priorities.
“When everyone is contributing towards growth but not necessarily towards the same objective, businesses create unnecessary friction,” she says.
The result can be disconnected customer journeys, fragmented data and departments celebrating individual successes without understanding their wider commercial impact.
For Payne, the solution is greater integration between functions, with Revenue Operations (RevOps) becoming an increasingly important model.
Rather than treating marketing, sales, finance and customer success as separate areas, RevOps connects them through shared systems, objectives and accountability.
“Growth no longer happens inside neat departmental boundaries,” Payne says.
“The businesses that succeed will be those that can connect every part of the customer journey.”
From guardianship to growth
The changing nature of customer behaviour is one of the biggest drivers behind this shift.
Today’s buyers move between platforms, reviews, peer recommendations and online research long before they speak to a salesperson or visit a company website.
That means brand perception is increasingly connected to customer experience, sales enablement, retention and operations.
For Payne, this makes the traditional separation between marketing and commercial functions increasingly outdated.
“Marketing leaders must make and take their own seat in the boardroom,” she says.
The challenge is that many marketers have built their careers around storytelling, positioning, communication and understanding audiences, while financial metrics have historically sat elsewhere in the organisation.
But that divide is becoming harder to maintain.
Understanding customer acquisition costs, pipeline velocity, retention economics and revenue attribution allows CMOs to demonstrate their contribution in the language boards increasingly use.
“The shift isn’t about becoming accountants,” Payne explains.
“It is about understanding the commercial problem marketing is designed to solve.”
Speaking the language of leadership
For Payne, the future of marketing leadership is not about choosing between creativity and commercial accountability.
The strongest CMOs will combine both.
Great marketing still builds trust, creates emotional connection and differentiates businesses in crowded markets. But it must also support measurable business outcomes.
“Great marketers don’t just generate leads,” Payne says. “They connect marketing to revenue while building trust, reducing friction, strengthening loyalty and accelerating decision-making.”
The challenge now is ensuring that marketing leaders can clearly articulate that value.
“The only real difference is that we’re now expected to express our contribution in revenue terms rather than assuming our efforts will speak for themselves,” Payne says.
“For modern CMOs, the opportunity is to become translators, co-ordinators and creators of growth. Money talks – and speaking the language of leadership is how marketing secures its place at the centre of business strategy.”