Karen Sauder

Large enterprise CMOs are facing a critical challenge: Drive AI transformation while doing right by the teams that built your organization. The C-suite wants AI transformation yesterday. Their teams—many with decades of institutional knowledge—are skeptical, exhausted, or both. Here's what I keep hearing: "I know we need to move fast. But I can't just blow up my team in the process." These leaders aren't stuck because they don't understand AI. They're stuck because they understand people. They need a plan for that first and foremost when the org gets to a certain size. They know that legacy expertise is still valuable and long-tenured employees deserve honesty about what's coming, not false promises. Transformation that breaks trust isn't really transformation—it's just chaos with better tech. This is the real leadership challenge of AI transformation - navigating the human complexity of change in organizations where relationships, tenure, and culture run deep.

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AI is forcing media executives to re-evaluate the concept of trust in brands. Consumers no longer trust a media brand. We can thank the Chicago Sun-Times for the most "famous" example of why: https://lnkd.in/eZmQeXEW. Instead, media consumers will trust individual people at media brands. But trust needs to be built and cultivated. What can a media brand do? Elevate the profiles of the hard-working individuals who report and provide expert analysis of the news. Put their names, faces and signatures in newsletters. Record talent-driven podcasts. Be more human and allow personalities to shine. Today it is only the individual reporters, contributors, editors, and analysts at a media brand who can build and retain reader trust.

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This research with BCG reinforces something we are seeing clearly across the ecosystem. Discussing it with Giorgo Paizanis and speaking with ADWEEK’s Jenny Rooney were both highlights for me at International CES - Consumer Electronics Show. The biggest impact of AI is not the technology itself. It is how quickly consumer behavior is changing. As discovery collapses into a single answer and AI increasingly acts on behalf of consumers, the traditional marketing funnel fundamentally breaks. Visibility alone is no longer a strategy. What matters now is whether a brand has earned enough trust, relevance, and differentiation to be chosen, even when AI sits in the middle. That is why owned destinations, first-party relationships, and strong customer experiences are not defensive moves. They are long-term advantages. I am excited for the research Moloco conducted in partnership with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to be released on January 21. The AI Disruption Index will continue to shape conversations with marketers at upcoming industry moments including POSSIBLE and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In an AI-first world, loyalty is not driven by clicks. It is driven by relationships. #CES2026 #Moloco #CannesLions #Possible #BCG #AI #ConsumerBehavior #Marketing #Brands #CMO #MolocoAtCES #CES #AdTech #AIDisruptionIndex Kezia Vere Nicoll Lana McGilvray Donnetta Campbell Beth Berger Robin Raskin Patrick Copeland Craig Hatkoff

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Really appreciated being part of this conversation. Big industry shifts raise questions, but they also create space for new ideas and new ways of working. Chicago’s creative community has been through change before, and it always finds its footing.

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CMOs Are More Focused On Growing Revenue Than Brand Awareness https://lnkd.in/g8jyVmuY Chief marketing officers are increasingly prioritizing direct revenue outcomes over traditional brand awareness efforts, influenced by economic pressures, performance measurement demands, and AI‑enabled tracking. This shift reflects a need for more measurable impact on business performance, with revenue growth becoming a leading strategic metric for modern marketing leaders. #CMOInsights #RevenueGrowth #MarketingStrategy #BrandVsPerformance #BusinessImpact #DataDrivenMarketing

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https://lnkd.in/gGAExf7z CMOs Never Last ​In their Harvard Business Review article, “Why CMOs Never Last,” Kimberly A. Whitler and Neil A. Morgan highlight the challenges CMOs face due to ambiguous role definitions and misaligned expectations. They argue that without clear alignment on the CMO's responsibilities—be it strategy, commercialization, or enterprise-wide P&L—the role becomes untenable. ​ This insight resonates with the concept of developing an “Organizational Gut,” as discussed in my article (https://lnkd.in/gWPcp6Fs). In an era where AI democratizes data access, the differentiator becomes human intuition and the ability to make sense of information amidst ambiguity. By fostering environments where information flows freely, biases are recognized, and teams are empowered to act decisively, organizations can build this intuitive capability.

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Babak, your comments in Joao-Pierre Ruth InformationWeek piece from Davos, and your BBC News interview this morning, really struck a chord. That article made a strong point that AI was front and centre for business leaders at Davos, while still feeling more peripheral for many politicians. The commercial world clearly sees where this is heading, but the reality on the ground is moving far more slowly. The Wall Street Journal recently noted that AI adoption across companies is still “slow and uneven,” with most organisations stuck in pilot mode rather than real, scaled deployment. Lots of noise. Plenty of decks. Not nearly as much real impact in the day-to-day customer journey. That idea that the future of AI isn’t one giant assistant, but lots of specialised agents working together behind the scenes, feels exactly where things are heading. The retail leaders and agency teams I’m speaking to aren’t asking if they should use AI anymore. They’re asking where it improves service, conversion, and customer confidence right now, especially across the direct-to-consumer journey, and who ultimately owns the first-party data coming out of it. Working from London with the Silicon Valley-based team Mind Over Media , I’m seeing real traction from practical, brand-owned agents that sit inside the customer journey, remove friction at the exact moment it matters, and keep the relationship and the data with the brand. As founders Andy Anderson and Jamie Parker put it: “As commerce moves toward agents and agent-to-agent interactions, every brand will need its own intelligence representing it. We build for the brand, not the channel, so that brain sits with the company, and they keep ownership of the customer relationship, the data, and the commercial outcome.” And this isn’t about replacing people. It’s about giving teams better tools that actually work in the real world. As someone who’s dyslexic thinker, AI has genuinely transformed my day-to-day working life. As Sir Richard Branson often says, it can be a powerful co-pilot, but human creativity still matters most. That balance between human judgement and agent-driven systems feels like the real direction of travel. Much of the work around Mind Over Media AI sits right in the middle of this shift. Let me know what you think? #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #AgenticAI #Davos #CustomerExperience #DirectToConsumer #FirstPartyData #DigitalTransformation #Retail #Ecommerce #MarketingTechnology #FutureOfWork

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