Adweek reports on McKinsey’s 2025 study revealing a growing gap between CEOs and CMOs in decision-making and strategy alignment.
CEOs and CMOs often lack clarity on the marketing leader’s role. CEOs’ confidence in marketing’s remit has fallen from 90 percent in 2023 to 70 percent in 2025, while only half of CMOs feel fully included in strategic planning. This disconnect has left many CMOs sidelined from core decision-making meetings, with fewer than two-thirds having a seat at the table.
Budget under-allocation is a critical issue. Eighty percent of CEOs and 77 percent of CMOs believe their marketing budgets are inadequate, reflected in ad spends falling from 9.1 percent to 7.7 percent of revenue in 2024.
A major friction point is misaligned metrics. While 70 percent of CEOs assess marketing success via revenue growth and margin, just 35 percent of CMOs include those in their top measurement criteria. Thirty percent of CMOs report having no clear definition of marketing ROI. CFOs highlight the need for marketing metrics that map directly to revenue and margin outcomes.
McKinsey emphasizes that when CEOs and CMOs align around shared goals—especially customer centricity—performance follows. CEOs who integrate marketing into core business strategy have twice the likelihood of achieving over 5 percent annual growth.
Credit: Summary adapted from Adweek (via McKinsey)
Read more: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/ceos-and-cmos-are-drifting-further-apart-mckinsey-warns/