Why CMOs are under siege — and what needs to Change

The average CMO tenure has dropped to just 18 months. In an industry overwhelmed by complexity, the only way forward is faster. That means visibility, not more strategy decks. Impact, not more headcount.

Every few weeks, the marketing press runs a familiar headline: Another CMO out. New leadership incoming. Sometimes it’s rebranded as a re-org. Sometimes it’s spun as evolution. But the underlying pattern is undeniable.

The average tenure of a CMO now sits at just 18 months, according to research from Spencer Stuart — the shortest among the C-suite. It’s not for lack of talent. Today’s marketing leaders are some of the most forward-thinking, digitally fluent, and commercially-minded executives in their organizations. And yet, they’re increasingly falling short of expectations.

Why?

Because the marketing machine they’re tasked with running is no longer fit for purpose.

We live in an era of exponential change — where consumer behavior, culture, platforms, and competitors shift daily. But most marketing operating models haven’t evolved to match that pace. Instead, CMOs are stuck navigating an outdated system: fragmented tech stacks, siloed teams, slow-moving approval chains, and endless strategy cycles that delay action until it’s too late.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the traditional agency model. Once the heartbeat of creative execution, many agencies are struggling to keep up — weighed down by complex layers of account teams, strategists, project managers, and creative leads. Everyone bills by the hour, but projects inch forward at a glacial speed. It’s a system optimized for scale and polish, not speed and performance.

As Adweek recently reported, even major holding companies are feeling the pressure — losing work not because they lack creative talent, but because they can’t move fast enough or provide the operational transparency brands now demand.

Meanwhile, CMOs are being judged on growth. And growth doesn’t wait.

Marketing leaders need more than creative excellence. They need operational visibility. A real-time understanding of what content is in-market, what’s being used, and what’s actually driving performance across regions, platforms, and teams. Without that, every decision becomes a gamble — and every campaign, a potential liability.

The future of marketing leadership isn’t just about storytelling. It’s about speed. It’s about knowing what’s working — and acting on it before your competitors do.

We need to move beyond the era of decks and diagnosis. We need to replace complexity with clarity. That means:

• Less time planning, more time optimizing.
• Less duplication, more orchestration.
• Less focus on outputs, more insight into outcomes.

CMOs have always been asked to wear many hats. But in 2025 and beyond, their most critical skill may be the ability to cut through the noise — to unite creative, media, data, and technology into a single system of insight that drives measurable impact.

Because the pressure isn’t going away. But with the right visibility, speed, and control — CMOs don’t just survive. They win.