The Future of the CMO: Why Marketing’s Top Job is Being Rewritten

The CMO role isn't dying - it's shedding old skin. 

In The Future of the CMO, the Rival team slices through the noise to show why the top marketing job is under siege — and how those with a challenger mindset can seize the moment.

At the heart of the story: a cast of real operators who are reshaping what leadership looks like in today’s boardrooms.

The CMO Role: Disappearing or Transforming? The CMO: Disappearing? Not Exactly.

‍

Let’s be clear: the headline numbers aren’t great. Only 71% of Fortune 500 companies have a CMO. Down from 74% in 2009. Tenures are short — 40 months, the briefest stint in the C-suite.

But despite these worrying signals, The Future of the CMO argues that the role isn’t vanishing—it’s transforming.

As Gary Survis, Head of Marketing at Insight Partners, puts it:

“Marketing is on the precipice of the biggest disruption it's ever faced.”

And it's already happening. The old model — marketing as the “coloring-in department” — is out. Growth-driving, tech-savvy, commercially accurate leadership is in.

From Brand Builders to Growth Drivers

If you think CMOs today just worry about logos and taglines, you’re 20 years too late.

The 1950s were about TV ads. The 1990s were about websites. Now? It’s about:

• Real-time customer data
• Full-stack marketing tech
• Driving measurable revenue

Budgets are tighter. Expectations are higher. The gap between marketing and business outcomes has closed — permanently.

Eric Fulwiler, former CMO of 11:FS and now CEO of Rival, believes:

“The playbook has changed.”

Today’s top marketers don’t just sell the brand. They scale the business.

Future of the Challenger Playbook

The old marketing playbook told you to focus on awareness. Shout louder, spend bigger, cross your fingers. But the complexity has exploded. More channels, more tech, faster shifts in customer behavior, and the brutal truth that today’s attention spans are measured in milliseconds, not minutes.

After interviewing over 100 CMOs leading the charge, the new Challenger Playbook comes down to three things:

1. Differentiation That Actually Lands

Not just another brand purpose manifesto. Challenger brands build what we call a Brand OS — a way of thinking and acting that makes them genuinely different from everyone else in the category. (Think Duolingo's playful tone or Monzo’s now-iconic coral cards.)

2. Arbitrage and Iteration

It’s no longer about picking the “best” platform. It's about finding underpriced opportunities before the others catch on. TikTok, mParticle, first-party data strategies — the challengers don’t wait for a trend report. They test, learn, and move.

3. Talkability

Forget mass appeal. Smart brands tap into small passionate tribes that drive word-of-mouth faster than any paid campaign could. (Think how Gymshark exploded from a weightlifting subculture.)

So what’s a modern CMO supposed to do? Learn to code? Master GenAI? Become a Canva wizard?

No.

The smart ones know it’s not about doing everything. It’s about knowing which tools, tech, and thinkingtrends to harness — and which ones to ignore — in the service of building outsized, compounding growth.

Three Skills for the Next-Gen CMO

From Mastercard and Thinx to some of the sharpest challenger brands out there, the Rival team uncovered three non-negotiables for the next generation of marketing leaders:

1. Speak Boardroom, Not Buzzwords

Forget campaigns. CMOs need to link marketing to revenue, margin, and shareholder value — in plain English. No wonder only 41 of the Fortune 1000 have marketers on their boards.

2. Deliver Commercial Results

It’s not about looking busy. It’s about impacting the P&L. Show the link between spend and sales — or risk being replaced by a Chief Growth Officer (CGO) who will.

3. Master Data and Tech

If you can’t navigate AI, blockchain, and the post-cookie marketing world, you're not a modern CMO. Future leaders don’t outsource tech literacy — they own it.

‍A Story Told By Those Shaping It

Rather than speaking about the future of marketing in theory, The Future of the CMO taps into the voices of those actively creating it. The film features an impressive lineup of experts, including:

• Kristen Cavallo, former CEO of The Martin Agency, one of the most awarded advertising agencies globally. Kristen brings decades of experience building brands and leading creative growth during seismic shifts in the industry.

• Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and President of the Healthcare Business at Mastercard — and author of Quantum Marketing. Raja brings decades of transformational leadership across Fortune 500 companies, helping brands navigate disruption and drive commercial growth on a global scale.
  

• Gary Survis, Head of Marketing at Insight Partners, the global VC firm behind high-growth tech giants like Hootsuite, Checkout.com, and Fanatics. Gary provides an insider’s view on how marketing is judged in today's high-pressure, results-driven business environment.
  
  
• Meghan Davis, current CEO at Dr Scholls and prior CMO at Thinx, one of the leading brands in the FemTech revolution. Meghan shares practical insights on distilling marketing strategy into clear, board-ready narratives—essential advice for modern CMOs.
  
  
• Andrew Garrihy, a marketing veteran with deep international experience, including CMO and leadership roles at Huawei and DiDi, offers a global perspective on the evolving relationship between marketing, technology, and customer experience.
  
  
• Dean Aragón, CEO and Vice Chairman at Shell Brands International, discusses the commercial realities marketers must now embrace—where brand-building and business-building are no longer separate endeavors.
  

• Professor Rajesh Bhargave, Associate Professor of Marketing at Imperial College Business School — a leading voice in consumer behavior research. Rajesh brings deep expertise on how technology, social context, and real-world decision-making are reshaping the way brands connect with customers

• Lance Koenig, with over 20 years of global brand strategy experience, highlights how today’s most influential brands are winning by tapping into microcultures—small, passionate communities that are redefining consumer behavior and brand loyalty.

• Jenna Cummings, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Rival — a marketing consultancy built for challengers. Jenna brings a decade of global media and marketing experience, helping some of the world’s fastest-growing brands scale smarter across London, Singapore, and New York.

The documentary is framed by Eric Fulwiler, former CMO of 11:FS and now CEO of Rival, and Viren Samani, seasoned executive video producer, who ground the narrative in both current trends and future possibilities.

Their conversations, backed by cutting-edge data and real-world case studies, make The Future of the CMO not just a reflection on change—but a playbook for what’s next.

A Future Full of Opportunity...For Those Who Adapt

Yes, the pressure’s real. Yes, the job's evolving faster than most can keep up.

But for marketers who can simplify complexity, build cross-functional trust, and prove marketing’s real impact?

The next decade isn't a threat. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

As Meghan Davis of Thinx puts it:

“The best marketers today are those who can simplify the complex, build trust with their peers, and show how marketing drives real, tangible growth."

The future belongs to those who play offense, not defense.

Watch the full documentary, The Future of the CMO. Streaming now.