Marketing Trends 2026

Companies are still shunning internal candidates for CMO roles, and the July data shows it

External CMO hires continue to dominate in 2026, with nearly half of June's appointments going to first-timers, per Ad Age's monthly tracking data.

Creator-executives are rewriting what a CMO looks like in 2026

Nadya Okamoto's appointment as CMO of Pie signals a broader shift: brands are trading boardroom experience for built-in audience fluency.

B2B marketing teams face their hardest budget-allocation test yet as AI, ABM, and intent data all compete for the same dollar

Demand Gen Report's 2026 benchmark survey is open now, asking where B2B marketing budgets are really flowing across ABM, content, intent data, and AI.

Marketing budgets hit 7.8% of revenue in 2026, but AI visibility is redirecting where the money actually flows

Marketing budgets are at their lowest share of company revenue since 2020, yet AI visibility and creator spend are quietly absorbing dollars once earmarked for

Marketing budgets are flat at 7.7% of revenue, but AI-mature companies are spending 11%

Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey finds marketing budgets holding steady at 7.7% of revenue overall, while organizations with fully optimized AI processes average

95% of B2B marketers use AI in 2026, but fewer than 4 in 10 say it's actually working

CMI's 2026 B2B research exposes the gap between AI adoption and real performance gains, while buying committees hit 11.2 members on average.

Brand trust, short-term pressure, and the ROI of creativity: what's reshaping the B2B CMO mandate in 2026

New research reveals B2B CMOs are trading long-term brand investment for internal credibility, even as data shows creativity drives measurable commercial growth

Three martech moves reshaping how enterprise teams buy, automate, and engage in 2026

Outreach, Tenon, and Sprinklr each dropped significant product news on July 16, here's what it means for revenue ops, IT, and CX teams.