2026 Conference Highlights

Build What's Next: Marketing Leadership in the Age of AI

Session Highlights

Signature Series: 2026 CMO Spend Survey — Key Insights to Shape Your Marketing Strategy
  • Growth with less is the new mandate. CEOs demand enterprise growth and AI-driven transformation, but marketing budgets remain flat.
  • AI investment is rising. CMOs are allocating 15.3% of budgets to AI initiatives, yet most organizations lack maturity to scale these investments.
  • AI leadership is a top priority. 70% of CMOs say becoming an AI leader is a critical goal for 2026, but only 30% report full AI readiness.
  • AI is reshaping the CMO role. 65% of CMOs say advances in AI will dramatically change their responsibilities within two years.
  • AI productivity isn’t enough. Most marketing teams use AI for efficiency, but the real value comes from supporting strategic decisions that drive growth.
  • Decision-support is the next frontier. AI must move upstream to enable closed-loop learning, where insights continuously inform marketing strategy and execution.
  • AI is now your brand ambassador. Nearly half of consumers and 60% of B2B buyers consult GenAI tools or chatbots for purchase decisions.
  • Content clarity is critical. AI flattens vague or overly clever messaging, making distinctive, structured content essential for brand differentiation.
  • Brand stewardship is evolving. Marketing leaders must shape how answer engines and AI agents represent, compare and recommend products — even when no one from the company is present.
  • Digital performance is polarizing. AI is widening the gap between digital marketing leaders and laggards, accelerating both success and failure.
  • Genius brands achieve outsized results. Top performers are searched for 12x more and receive 18.7x more site visitors than peers.
  • Talent strategy drives advantage. Leading brands invest in marketing technology roles and digital skills to close AI adoption gaps.
  • AI amplifies brand risk. Answer engines compress digital footprints into authoritative responses, making misinformation more pervasive and impactful.
  • TrustOps is essential for protection. An operational approach to managing truth and trust enables rapid detection and response to disinformation threats.
  • Technology offers both risk and defense. While AI accelerates the spread of false information, it also provides powerful tools to combat it through coordinated operational measures.
  • Trust is the new differentiator. In an era of abundant content, brands must design credibility signals that build genuine relationships.
  • AI is reshaping trust economics. Trust now influences not just preference, but discoverability — directly impacting rankings and recommendations.
  • Human experience drives brand value. Real human touchpoints and community-driven belonging are essential for earning trust and standing out in AI-mediated environments.

Save the Date for 2027

Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo™ conference returns to London in 2027, from May 26 - 27.

Join us to uncover the latest marketing insights and solutions with analysts, peers and service providers to accelerate your business.

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“Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo™ in London was extremely well-organized, with great keynotes and lots of qualified marketing leaders discussing the future of AI.”

Jeff Coyle
SVP, Siteimprove

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