New Report Finds Optimistic CMO Attitudes to GenAI

While pressure increases on marketing departments (as the number of channels proliferates) and as social media marketing opportunities explode and customers retain higher expectations for personalization than ever before, budgets still aren’t necessarily increasing widespread. Many chief marketing officers (CMOs) are discovering this; sometimes, the hard way.

So, how do you broaden your marketing efforts without extra personnel and/or hefty financial allocations?

According to a new study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), you do it with artificial intelligence (AI) or generative AI (GenAI). The study found that approximately 80% of CMOs surveyed said that GenAI is already improving automation, speed, and productivity. Moreover, three out of five respondents plan to invest at least $10 million annually in AI and GenAI initiatives over the next three years.

The report, entitled “How CMOs Are Shaping Their GenAI Future,” is based on a cross-sector survey conducted of hundreds of CMOs across Asia, Europe and North America.

The report also found that CMOs are overwhelmingly optimistic and confident about GenAI. When asked to select words that best described their feelings about the technology, CMOs chose optimism (78%), confidence (75%), and curiosity (65%). However, some CMOs are turning away: 18% counted themselves among the "rejectors"—an increase of six percentage points over BCG's 2023 survey.

Social media marketing has become one of the biggest drivers of plans for GenAI technology adoption, according to the report. Already, half of CMOs are deploying GenAI tools for content creation, especially draft copy and images that marketers refine for social media ads. Additionally, CMOs report using AI tools to enrich their social media listening, leveraging the technology to provide more immediate, specific feedback and detailed data insights. Personalization within marketing efforts is shown to be another enormous driver for GenAI adoption.

"Most CMOs have captured the low-hanging fruit of GenAI applications, but real growth will come from focusing on areas such as personalization, customer insight generation, and predictive analytics," said Mark Abraham, a BCG managing director and a leader of the firm's personalization business. "The work is difficult and time-consuming, but those who master the shift from automation to innovation of the customer experience will achieve the greatest benefits from GenAI."