What does marketing deliver? For decades, chief marketing officers (CMOs) have tried to answer this question with hard facts. The pressure to generate measurable revenue and sustainable business growth is greater than ever. Customers demand personalised and exceptional experiences without media breaks. Across the entire customer journey, CMOs must prove the value of their activities – preferably in real time. As recently published in the Handelszeitung, the role of AI in reshaping the strategic contributions of CMOs is becoming increasingly important.
This is where autonomous, self-acting systems with artificial intelligence – AI agents or agentic AI – come into play. They enable CMOs to launch data-driven initiatives, autonomous campaign management and innovative strategies. They transform marketing activities into responsible, revenue-oriented offensives with unprecedented dynamism, positioning the CMO as an innovation driver.
Back to the roots
Robotic process automation (RPA) automates manual marketing tasks. However, due to its rigidity, lengthy implementation and high costs, it never really broke through. Agentic AI is different: it drastically lowers entry barriers and revolutionises the marketing universe.
AI agents can create content in a matter of seconds, offering countless alternatives for tone, format and creative execution. They coordinate campaigns from A to Z, allowing marketing teams to focus on core tasks like strategic positioning, brand messaging and campaign goals. Marketing leaders finally have time again for building strong communities, nurturing relationships and designing meaningful narratives.
New rules, new game
Agentic AI brings CMOs and their teams to a completely new level of action – not just in terms of tools, but also roles, processes and mindsets. The marketing world must prepare for this leap. Such a technological revolution requires not only new technologies but also new processes and skills. With agentic AI, the CMO’s function changes multiple times: from executing to steering, from silos to system thinking, from implementing to overseeing.
From campaign responsibility to system architecture
The core function of the CMO shifts from campaign responsibility to system architecture. In the future, CMOs will design and oversee AI-driven marketing systems that launch, optimise and end campaigns in real time based on performance indicators. CMOs set clear goals and operational guidelines, while ensuring consistent brand voice and compliance.
For example, instead of coordinating a seasonal launch over several weeks, the CMO manages an AI platform that continuously runs micro-campaigns and tests messages and channels. If the platform finds that influencer videos perform better with a certain target group than static ads, it reallocates budget and creative resources immediately and autonomously.
From employee coaching to managing hybrid teams
CMOs now face the task of leading hybrid teams of human talent and digital AI agents. This requires both technical knowledge and human qualities such as adaptability, judgment, creativity, empathy and critical thinking. Above all, they must ensure that AI agents respect ethical and strategic boundaries. CMOs should bring new roles into the team, such as prompt engineers or AI strategists, and retrain current team members to interact effectively with intelligent systems.
CMOs are responsible for both the performance of their employees and the results of AI agents. For example, when launching a new product, AI agents engage with influencers and handle campaign analysis, while marketing staff focus on creativity or building business partnerships.
From data-based to AI-supported decisions
Until now, CMOs relied on historical data. In the future, they’ll use AI systems that independently propose actions based on trend analyses, simulations and forecasting models. This enables forward-looking, scenario-based and revenue-oriented decisions. AI agents provide value-creating insights, from product development to revenue forecasts and financial planning. The CMO’s task is to validate these decisions and make sure they align with company goals.
For example, an AI agent simulates several market entry strategies, recommends a pricing model based on real-time competitor information and predicts which target groups are most likely to switch. The CMO and team select the scenario that best fits the company’s vision and they check ethical and brand-sensitive aspects.
From brand management to ethics oversight
With the increasing prevalence of AI-generated content, CMOs become supervisors of brand ethics. They set clear ethical frameworks and brand protection rules for their AI agents, using monitoring tools that flag off-brand or sensitive content in real time. These tools are supported by escalation protocols and pre-approved response guidelines. AI agents can be trained to maintain a certain tone and detect bias. The marketing team provides human oversight and ensures accountability and strategic direction. This way, CMOs maintain trust in their brands, protect the image and react immediately when needed.
From KPI tracking to performance architecture
CMOs must build a comprehensive structure for measuring and reporting the performance of their AI systems. Simply introducing AI agents in marketing isn’t enough. Realistic performance indicators are needed to reflect the value creation delta of AI systems. Such metrics measure not only impressions and engagement but also benefits like the speed of autonomous campaigns, dynamic personalisation rate, reduction of manual effort or accuracy in identifying new customer segments. Other indicators assess how effectively AI agents orchestrate multi-channel experiences, ensuring a seamless customer journey from digital advertising to post-purchase consulting. To monitor and ensure the performance, ethical compatibility and brand congruence of AI agents, CMOs need transparent, automated real-time reporting systems.
In short
AI agents are driving a demanding transformation in marketing. This isn’t a one-time change but requires CMOs to anchor continuous learning, organisational development and adaptive strategies in their departments. CMOs no longer just guard the brand or boost sales but create an adaptable, AI-integrated culture. This establishes upskilling, experimentation and ethical discipline in the business model. Future-oriented CMOs create systems and environments increasingly managed by AI agents, ensuring brand consistency and measurable added value.
The real challenge lies less in introducing new tools than in overcoming structural inertia, cultural resistance and operational complexity. CMOs must bridge the gap between what AI can do and what their company is willing to take responsibility for. Those who succeed in this will shape the future of marketing. Otherwise, they risk being overtaken by the very intelligence they fail to use.
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Roger Lay
Partner, Customer Transformation, PwC Switzerland