Tim Rumpler

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 can get users to your site, but the real challenge begins after the click. Discover how to optimize your site for success in an AI-driven future in this clip with Merkle's Davis Grietens:

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CMOs are being pulled in 10 directions—and expected to deliver in all of them. Brand, pipeline, ABM, ops, AI… and oh yeah, don’t forget attention (good luck with that). Adam MacLean and I break down the real mandate modern CMOs are facing—and what it takes to thrive when the job keeps expanding in this week's blog post. We're curious. CMO's -- what's keeping you up at night? Adam and I are always seeking feedback on our content. We welcome it. Link in comments...

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McKinsey reports that half of consumers intentionally seek out AI-powered search engines, and 44% of AI search users say it is their primary and preferred source of insight. Too many companies are unaware of or intentionally ignoring the speed with which this shift is going to happen. I know I'm more of a brand and content guy, but the best time to start your AEO strategy was last year. The second best time is now.

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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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CMOs demand guaranteed delivery, lowest CPMs, strategic flexibility, and outcome-based pricing. Physics says you can't have all four simultaneously. Principal media delivers three of them. The question is which three matter most. Forrester's new principal media report from the inimitable Jay Pattisall is very much worth a read, and it's going to trigger the predictable debate. Critics will argue agencies are creating conflicts. Evangelists will tout cost savings. Both will miss the strategic reality: CMOs facing compression don't have the luxury of perfect markets. I've watched boards push CMOs for guaranteed outcomes while slashing budgets. In that environment, academic arguments about strategic flexibility mean nothing. The anti-principal media argument assumes unlimited client patience, perfect information, and rational markets. Reality looks different. Reality is: your board wants cost certainty so they can model P&L without media volatility. Reality is: your CFO wants guaranteed delivery so you're not scrambling for Super Bowl inventory in scatter markets. Reality is: your CEO wants outcome-based pricing that ties media spend to business results. Principal media trades strategic flexibility for the three things boards actually care about: cost certainty, delivery guarantee, and outcome alignment. The Forrester report shows 80% of marketers are interested in principal media advantages. That's not because CMOs are naive about conflicts of interest. It's because they're making rational trade-offs under real constraints. The criticism of principal media comes from people who've never faced the impossible triangle. They can afford to optimize for strategic flexibility because they're not accountable for the P&L impact when media costs spike or inventory disappears. Yes, principal media requires transparency. Yes, it needs contractual controls and performance accountability. Yes, clients should cap how much spend flows through principal arrangements. But the mechanism itself? It's agencies finally building inventory positions that enable the outcome-based pricing we've demanded for years. I'm a big supporter as, for two decades, I've watched CMOs demand that agencies move from billing hours to pricing on outcomes. "Put skin in the game," they said. "Share the risk." Now agencies are doing exactly that with principal media, and the industry is calling it a conflict of interest. We can't have it both ways. Forrester predicts principal media will grow to one-third of billings by 2026. Read their report, then decide which three variables matter most for your business. https://lnkd.in/eKHg5qmk #PrincipalMedia #MediaBuying #CMO #MarketingLeadership #MarketingStrategy

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Personalization isn’t about channels or platforms. It’s about giving customers what they actually want. In this episode of Here’s the Deal, I share the marketer’s checklist for data activation, from unifying your data to optimizing campaigns in real time.

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How is AI impacting the agency industry and business model? Over the past year, I’ve spoken to some of the sharpest minds in our industry - Tim Williams, Blair Enns, Brian Kessman, Steve Guberman, David C. Baker, Tom Head, Carl Smith, Tina Fegent (FCIPS), Kevin Gibbons, Laura Smales, Heather Murray - about the rise of AI and what it means for agency growth, pricing, team structure and client value and management. 🎙️ In this special compilation episode, we've curated the insights from those conversations into 5 key themes: 1. The industry-wide impact of AI and what it means for the business model 2. How agencies are adopting AI internally and what frameworks help most 3. The shift in search and discovery and how clients' customers are starting to behave differently 4. The pricing and leadership implications and how to start the right conversations with clients and Procurement 5. What successful AI adoption looks like - from efficiency gains to successful use cases This video clip is a snapshot from the episode. If you're responsible for how AI impacts your agency - or you just want to understand how other agencies are adapting to the changes the link to this episode is below 👇 Coming up on the podcast soon I'll be continuing to ask guests to share their expertise and observations about AI's impact on the industry. Here are some of the topics we'll be covering next on the Creative Agency Account Manager podcast: 1. What are the current legal implications of using AI and how should agencies adapt? 2. How are agencies using AI to help drive and track net new sales? 3. What is the likely shape of the AI-forward agency business model of the future? 4. How and when to hire a full-time AI strategist for your agency and how do they help the account management team? If you’re responsible for how AI shapes your agency - or you're curious how other agencies are adapting, this one’s for you. How is AI helping (or hindering) you in your agency role?

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Composable CDPs sit on top of existing data clouds to preserve customer 360 and activate real-time data. Here's why this architecture wins. The data is clear: 60% of organizations are investing in composable enterprise technology within the next three years. Traditional monolithic CDPs are being squeezed out—and for good reason. I had this exact conversation with the Head of MarTech for a Financial Services organization this week! Three architectural advantages driving this shift: 🔧 API-First Design: Seamless integration between components and third-party tools means your data infrastructure adapts to your business, not the other way around. ⚡ Vendor Agnosticism: Organizations aren't locked into single vendors, allowing flexibility in choosing best tools for each task. No more vendor lock-in limiting your growth. 📊 Performance + Cost: Composable solutions connect directly to the data layer, leveraging pre-built modules while enabling custom AI and ML solutions. This is exactly why our platform integrations with Snowflake, Salesforce, and Treasure Data, etc. are built on composable principles. When your CDP becomes the customer experience engine—not just a data repository—you unlock real-time personalization at scale. The question isn't whether to go composable. It's whether your current architecture can compete with organizations that already have. What's your experience with composable vs. traditional CDP architectures? https://bit.ly/4egYVyG #ComposableCDP #DataArchitecture #MarTech #CustomerData #DataStrategy Merkle

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