April 29, 2025
By Jordan Clarke
In a business environment shaped by ESG pressures, economic uncertainty, and rapid technological change, the role of marketing has never been more strategically important. Brand trust, corporate reputation, and authentic communication are now fundamental to resilience and growth, yet CMOs remain under-represented at Board level, with research in 2024 showing that across the Fortune 1000, marketeers accounted for less than 5% of all board seats. This disparity underscores a critical oversight: organisations are overlooking the transformative potential of CMOs as strategic leaders and agents of change. As companies face new risks and greater public scrutiny, the voice of the customer, the power of data, and the shaping of corporate narrative must have a seat at the top table.
Breaking Free from Traditional Perceptions
The traditional view of marketing’s contribution to the business - building brand awareness, managing reputation, supporting customer experience, and mitigating crisis communications - is well established. These pillars will always remain core to marketing’s value. However, this is no longer enough.
The CMO's role has evolved far beyond communications. Today’s Boards face interconnected challenges around digital transformation, data ethics, AI integration, and societal expectations of corporate responsibility. Sitting at the intersection of technology, client/customer insight, brand narrative, and growth strategy, CMOs are uniquely positioned to help Boards navigate these complex landscapes. Their contribution is no longer confined to storytelling, and now extends to driving enterprise value, identifying emerging risks, and unlocking new commercial opportunities through technology and data-led insights.
In short: marketing leaders have outgrown the traditional definitions of their role. The question is not whether CMOs can add value to Board discussions - it’s whether Boards are ready to fully leverage the broader strategic value that CMOs can now deliver.
The Strategic Value CMOs Bring Today
As the external environment becomes more complex and interconnected, the expertise CMOs bring to the Boardroom is arguably both relevant and essential. Modern marketing leaders contribute to three critical, overlapping areas of business strategy:
- Technology, Data and AI Integration: Technology has reshaped every aspect of how organisations engage with their stakeholders, operate internally, and generate growth. CMOs are deeply embedded in this landscape, managing complex MarTech ecosystems, CRM platforms, and customer analytics tools that fuel business intelligence. As AI capabilities mature, marketing leaders are often among the first to deploy, test, and understand their real-world application and ethical implications. Their experience straddles both the commercial opportunities and the risks that accompany emerging technologies; an increasingly important dimension of Board-level decision-making.
- Shaping External Narrative and Societal Alignment: Boards are increasingly expected to oversee a company’s position and performance across a range of societal issues, from ESG to ED&I. These topics are now closely scrutinised by investors, regulators, employees, and the public. While Boards may establish committees or appoint NEDs with specific expertise, it is often the CMO who must translate these strategic commitments into a coherent, credible narrative, both internally and externally. Marketing leaders ensure that progress is communicated authentically, enhancing brand trust while mitigating reputational risk. They understand how public perception is shaped not just by what companies do, but by how consistently and meaningfully they are seen to act.
- Building Brand Resilience Through Risk Anticipation and Response: The volatility of today’s environment - economic, social, digital - means that brand resilience is no longer a passive asset; it must be actively built and maintained. CMOs, closely attuned to shifting stakeholder sentiment and market dynamics, play a vital role in anticipating reputational risks before they escalate. Their insight is critical not only in managing crises when they arise but in designing the narratives, behaviours, and customer experiences that can strengthen resilience against future economic shocks. Marketing’s view of emerging risks, when integrated at Board level, can materially impact long-term enterprise value and risk management strategies.
Evolving the Boardroom Perspective on Marketing Leadership
Despite the increasingly strategic nature of the CMO role, structural and perceptual barriers continue to limit their presence in Boardrooms. Part of this may stem from a legacy view of marketing as an executional function, focused more on communication than enterprise leadership. While this perception no longer reflects the reality of modern marketing, it can continue to shape how Boards assess potential members.
Another potential barrier lies in the traditional development pathways available to many CMOs. Compared to CFOs or COOs, marketing leaders may have fewer opportunities to demonstrate direct P&L ownership, large-scale operational leadership, or governance experience; areas that, rightly, remain priorities for Board appointments. Without deliberate steps to broaden their remit and visibility, some CMOs risk being seen as specialists rather than enterprise-wide strategists.
Yet the real opportunity lies not in forcing CMOs to fit historical moulds, but in evolving Board criteria to meet today’s needs. Organisations that continue to view marketing leadership as peripheral to strategy risk missing out on critical perspectives that enhance resilience, growth, and relevance.
In 2025, businesses are grappling with a convergence of external pressures: global trade tensions disrupting supply chains, geopolitical conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East fuelling market volatility, and slowing economic growth putting pressure on long-term planning. At the same time, a rise in societal activism and civil unrest is intensifying scrutiny on how companies behave, communicate, and contribute to broader societal goals.
In this environment, Boards must navigate not only financial and operational risk, but also a more complex external narrative that directly influences stakeholder trust and brand resilience. CMOs are uniquely positioned to help Boards interpret and respond to these pressures, providing insight into stakeholder sentiment, shaping credible corporate narratives, and ensuring brand and trust are actively managed as core strategic assets. In an era where growth is harder won and trust more easily lost, it can be argued that marketing leadership is fundamental to boardroom success.