Executive Summary

In a complex and volatile economic landscape, European marketing leaders are under immense pressure to drive tangible business growth. Research from both McKinsey & Company and The CMO Survey highlights a critical disconnect: while many executives possess a strong ambition for growth, their actions often fail to align with their aspirations. The most successful “outperformers” are those who master five key mindsets and translate them into rigorous, data-driven actions: prioritising long-term growth, acting boldly, maintaining genuine customer-centricity, nurturing talent, and executing with excellence. This approach is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, particularly with the rise of AI and the increasing demand for demonstrable ROI.

The European Marketing Landscape: Ambition vs. Reality

The European digital advertising market is experiencing significant growth, with a projected CAGR of 14.4% from 2023 to 2026, reaching an estimated €44 billion. Despite this, the economic outlook is mixed. The CMO Survey reports that nearly half of marketing leaders in the U.S. feel less optimistic about the economy compared to the previous quarter, and 43.5% say that current inflationary pressures are decreasing marketing spending. This environment makes the pursuit of growth a demanding and courageous endeavour.

A recent McKinsey study on over 500 C-suite executives found that while 72% set ambitious, above-market growth targets, the majority still dedicate only 22% of their time to long-term initiatives (defined as over five years). This focus on short-to-medium-term projects (less than five years) reveals a significant gap between strategy and execution.

Five Mindsets for Growth Outperformance

Top-performing companies, defined as “growth outperformers” by McKinsey, close this gap by aligning their behaviours with five critical mindsets.

1. Invest in Growth, Even in Turbulent Times

Growth is a long-term pursuit. Outperformers recognise this and are 10% more likely than their peers to hold regular debates about whether to accelerate, modify, or halt growth initiatives. They communicate ambitious goals externally and internally, with survey data showing they are 80% more likely to use town halls and investor updates to foster accountability. This disciplined approach helps them prioritise long-term vision over short-term distractions, as demonstrated by the case of Corning. During a period of declining sales and market volatility, CEO Wendell Weeks redefined the company’s trajectory, investing in technologies like generative AI to fuel new growth areas. This strategic, long-term focus has already yielded results, with an 8% increase in revenue year over year.

2. Be Audacious on Growth

Audacious leaders are willing to think creatively, take calculated risks, and mobilise resources quickly. A significant disconnect exists here; while 79% of all surveyed executives say they prioritise speed over perfection, only 30% actually increase resources for growth initiatives during periods of volatility. This reluctance to commit resources to bold moves, especially when it matters most, is a clear differentiator.

Outperformers, in contrast, embrace experimental failure and are 63% more likely to allocate resources to innovate new products or enter new markets. A prime example is Oncoclinicas, a Brazilian cancer care provider. CEO Dr. Bruno Ferrari made a bold, unconventional move to expand into Saudi Arabia, a new and unfamiliar market, by identifying key similarities in patient challenges. This audacious strategy is projected to generate an additional $550 million in annual revenue within five years.

3. Listen to Your Customers, For Real

Customer-centricity is a core tenet of modern marketing. Companies that master customer experience achieve twice the revenue growth of those that don’t. Yet, only 15% of executives consistently incorporate customer input into business decisions, and a mere 23% regularly engage with customers to ensure offerings deliver real value.

Leading marketers are leveraging technology, particularly AI and generative AI, to move beyond simple surveys. They use predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs and deploy AI agents to augment human interactions, personalising responses in real time. Sephora’s success is a testament to this, as its relentless focus on customer engagement, including interactive in-store displays, personalised consultations, and its “Beauty Insider” loyalty program, accounts for the majority of its annual transactions.

4. Rally a Dream Team for Growth

Talent is a critical driver of growth, yet 69% of leaders acknowledge a significant human capital or capability gap within their organisations. High-performing companies take a proactive approach by elevating and redeploying top performers, placing them in highly visible roles to spark growth. They also explore unconventional sources for talent, with outperformers being 50% more likely to proactively hire externally to close talent gaps.

DBS Bank in Southeast Asia provides a compelling case study. The bank’s executive team is committed to hiring and upskilling thousands of staff, with a strong focus on building tech skills. By investing in its technology talent pipeline, DBS generated approximately $270 million in incremental economic value in 2023 alone through revenue growth and saved expenses, a direct result of their early adoption of AI and machine learning.

5. Growth by Executing with Excellence

The final mindset is about turning ambition into reality through rigorous execution. A major challenge remains in leveraging technology, as only 10% of executives feel they have sufficient data and insights to back their growth decisions. Outperformers establish robust operating rhythms to manage growth activities, track progress with the same rigour as cost initiatives, and remove roadblocks for their teams. They empower initiative owners with real influence and accountability to foster a culture of trust and collaboration.

Conclusion

In the competitive European market, a data-driven approach is the only way for marketing executives to achieve sustainable growth. The data from both McKinsey and The CMO Survey points to a clear pathway: a commitment to long-term strategy, a willingness to take calculated risks, a genuine focus on customer insights powered by AI, a proactive approach to talent development, and a culture of rigorous, accountable execution. By embracing these mindsets, marketing leaders can shift from simply wanting growth to truly achieving it, propelling their organisations to market leadership.

References (APA 7th Edition):

• McKinsey & Company. (2025, January). Achieving growth: Putting leadership mindsets and behaviours into action.
• The CMO Survey. (2025). The CMO Survey Topline Report.
• Investec. (2025). European Digital Agency M&A: The Shift to End-to-End Digital Service Providers. Retrieved from https://www.investec.com/advisory/european-european-digital-agency-ma-the-shift-to-end-to-end-digital-service-providers/
• Marcom.eu. (2024, October 25). Marketing Agency in Europe: Marcom.EU’s Strategy Business Success. Retrieved from https://www.marcom.eu/top-marketing-agency-in-europe-how-marcom-eus-strategy-drives-business-success-across-the-continent
• OMNIUS. (2025, July 15). 11 Best SEO Agencies in Europe To Increase Organic Traffic in 2025. Retrieved from https://www.omnius.so/blog/best-seo-agencies-in-europe
• Consultancy.uk. (2024, May 16). Digital marketing service agencies head for recovery in 2024. Retrieved from https://www.consultancy.uk/news/37236/digital-marketing-service-agencies-head-for-recovery-in-2024

FAQs

1. What is the biggest challenge for marketing leaders in Europe today? The biggest challenge is a disconnect between growth ambitions and the actual actions taken. Many leaders set ambitious targets but fail to allocate sufficient time and resources to long-term growth initiatives, often prioritising short-term tasks.

2. How can generative AI help marketing leaders drive growth? Generative AI can help marketing leaders by enabling them to understand better and respond to customer needs in real time. It can augment human-customer interactions, personalise experiences, and automate complex tasks, which can lead to higher revenue growth and improved customer satisfaction.

3. What is the role of the CMO in a growth-focused company? The CMO’s role is evolving beyond traditional marketing. They are expected to be a strategic growth driver, a “digital evangelist,” and a leader who can manage marketing as a growth engine. Their ability to link marketing investments to business objectives and demonstrate the financial impact of their actions is increasingly critical.

4. What does “audacious on growth” mean for a company? Acting “audaciously on growth” means being willing to explore unconventional avenues, take bold risks, and quickly mobilise resources for a portfolio of growth bets. This includes experimenting with new ideas, even if they might fail, and prioritising speed over perfection to capture a first-mover advantage.

5. How important is talent in achieving growth, and how do top companies manage it? Talent is essential for growth, with a majority of leaders recognising a significant skills gap. Top companies address this by proactively elevating top performers, rewarding calculated risks, and pursuing unconventional sources for new hires to bring in fresh perspectives. They are 50% more likely than their peers to hire externally to fill talent gaps.

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AI is rewriting how brands create, distribute, and are discovered. It multiplies creative throughput, it accelerates decision-making, and it also amplifies reputational risk. This POV sets out a pragmatic operating model CMOs can deploy now to protect brand equity while scaling AI. It draws on leading research and policies from BCG, McKinsey, Google, OpenAI, Gartner, Forrester, and the 2025 CMO Survey. It also translates those insights into concrete controls that fit your marketing workflow, your agency ecosystem, and the new reality of AI Overviews in Search.

The risk of not doing anything or not planning

• Synthetic media and deepfakes are being effectively weaponised against leaders, influencers, and brands, resulting in a significant rise in fraud and reputational damage. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters have highlighted the alarming increase in executive impersonation and manipulated media. In response, regulators and platforms are urgently implementing disclosure rules to combat these threats. Wall Street JournalReuters

• AI models are now vital to the discovery process. Google’s AI Overviews are actively deployed in over 120 countries, and an increasing share of queries now feature summaries that cite sources. This transformation shifts brand visibility from merely ranking to being prominently referenced within the answer, creating significant opportunities while also introducing reputational challenges. HomePew Research Center

• Boards are intensifying their scrutiny of marketing risks and return on investment (ROI). The 2025 CMO Survey clearly demonstrates that CEOs, CFOs, and board members are demanding definitive proof of value. Furthermore, there has been a remarkable 116 per cent year-on-year increase in the utilisation of generative AI in marketing, leading to significant improvements in sales productivity and customer satisfaction.
  

• Governance expectations have reached a new standard. Google’s Secure AI Framework and Gartner’s AI TRiSM provide essential controls—such as model monitoring, data provenance, and anomaly detection—that marketing leaders must embed in their workflows. These are not optional considerations; they are imperative for success.

A CMO’s Brand-Protection Operating Model for AI

Use this six-part model to hard-wire protection into your marketing stack and agency ecosystem.

1) Policy, principles, and permissible use

Establish clear rules for AI use across creative, media, social, and customer interactions. Anchor to leading provider policies and responsible AI commitments from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft Azure, then tailor to your sector.

Require human-in-the-loop review for brand tone, claims, and context before publishing, as advised by McKinsey for scaled genAI content.

2) Provenance, disclosure, and authenticity

Adopt consistent disclosure for AI-assisted or AI-generated assets. Follow industry moves that mandate or encourage disclosure and watermarking in sensitive categories.

Align with emerging provenance frameworks and platform guidance that reinforce consumer trust in AI-assisted experiences.

3) Prompting, data, and brand language models

Create a Brand Language Model strategy that encodes voice, guardrails, and claims libraries, as predicted by Forrester for agency adoption. Fine-tune where permitted, but maintain a red-line list of prohibited tones and topics. Maintain an approved prompt library with tagged use cases, example outputs, and risk notes. Link each prompt to required reviewers and sign-off thresholds.

4) Pre-flight controls in production workflows

Add pre-flight checks to your content pipeline: brand fit, legal approvals, IP clearance, bias and harm screens, and fact-checking against authoritative sources. Google’s SAIF and Gartner’s AI TRiSM provide control categories to map against your martech.

Require safety system cards or transparency notes for high-impact model uses, tracking mitigations and limitations over time.

5) Post-launch monitoring across Search, social, and paid

Monitor AI Overviews’ inclusion and citations for your priority topics. Semrush’s 2025 study and Google’s documentation explain how inclusion works and why authority signals matter. Adjust entity SEO, citations, and structured data to earn references.

Track brand safety in programmatic with dynamic exclusions and sentiment shifts. Forrester and industry analysis emphasise expanding brand safety beyond adjacency to full ecosystem risk, including partners and creators.

6) People, partners, and escalation

Train marketers and agencies on AI risk playbooks and escalation protocols for impersonation or synthetic crisis. Blend automated detection with human review, which Google also emphasises for nuanced cases.

Run joint red-teaming with agencies and platform partners before high-stakes launches. Document tests, sign-offs, and rollback paths.

What to do about AI Overviews right now

Prioritise answer-worthy topics. Build pages that directly address the questions your buyers ask. Include concise definitions, step-by-step guidance, and original data. Pew’s July 2025 study shows that about one in five searches surfaced an AI summary, usually citing three or more sources, so you must become one of them.

Strengthen E-E-A-T signals with clear authorship, citations, and evidence. Keep claims within your domain expertise, and cite primary sources.

Engineer content for citation. Use schema, named entities, and tables that LLMs can extract. Reference platform documentation to mirror how Overviews assemble answers.

Evaluate the visibility and sentiment of AI-generated responses using enterprise SEO tools and first-party analytics. Then, adjust your editorial roadmap to address any identified gaps.

Analyse how traffic from major AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Mistral, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews is directed to your website.

Checklist You Can Implement This Quarter

Governance

Publish an AI use standard for marketing and agencies: reference OpenAI usage policies, Anthropic safeguards, Google SAIF, and Azure transparency notes. Require disclosure and provenance on AI-assisted assets in paid and owned channels where material to consumer understanding.

Risk and assurance

Implement AI TRiSM(1) controls across martech. Add vendor clauses for model monitoring, incident response, and watermarking support. Establish an impersonation response protocol for executives and creators. Maintain whitelists for official handles and voice models.

Content and discovery

Build modular content designed for citation in AI Overviews, with first-party data, diagrams, and step-by-step explainers. Localise governance for priority regions to reflect disclosure expectations and platform rules.

People and process

Train teams to review AI outputs for brand fit and claims, as McKinsey advises, and to escalate edge cases.
Pilot Brand Language Models with lock-in-avoidance plans that let you operate across OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, and Mistral.

90-day plan for Brand

Days 1–30

Approve an AI-for-Marketing policy with disclosure rules, HIL checkpoints, and approved providers.

Audit current content and ads for provenance and gaps that limit AI Overview citations.

Kick off an AI risk tabletop with legal, PR, HR, and agency partners.

Days 31–60

Launch pre-flight QA in your CMS or DAM: brand fit, claims, IP, bias checks, and provenance tagging. Map controls to SAIF and TRiSM(1). Stand up AI Overview tracking on your top 50 commercial topics with monthly reporting. Train creators and community managers on disinformation response and executive impersonation.

Days 61–90

Pilot a brand language model for two use cases, for example, email and paid social, with measurable lifts and strict human review. Produce two answer-first cornerstone pages and push structured data to support the AI Overview citation.  Review ROI and risk KPIs with the CFO using the CMO Survey metrics on productivity, customer satisfaction, and overhead.

Data and market signals

Generative AI usage in marketing grew 116 per cent year on year, and AI use now represents 17.2 per cent of marketing effort, with gains in sales productivity and customer satisfaction. Google’s AI Overviews appear at material rates across queries, increasingly shaping discovery and brand trust.

Agencies and brands are moving toward bespoke models and safeguards, while governance frameworks are available today.

Case implications for channel and CRM leaders

Refresh, nurture and service scripts so agents can verify identity and defuse deepfake-enabled scams. Pair liveness checks with human callbacks for unusual requests.

In CRM and loyalty, flag synthetic-content promotions and require provenance tags in UGC programs. See our CRM Churn Strategy for protective retention plays. https://digital-outcomes.eu/crm-churn-strategy/

How this POV aligns with current CMO priorities

The 2025 CMO Survey shows rising executive pressure to demonstrate impact. Our model turns brand safety from a compliance line item into measurable advantages in discovery, conversion, and trust that the C-suite can track.

Conclusion for our POV and Plan for Brand Protection in an AI-First World

Brand protection in an AI-first world is not a brake on growth. It is the chassis that lets you accelerate safely. With clear policies, provenance-first creative, answer-worthy content, and disciplined monitoring of AI Overviews, CMOs can reduce reputational risk, speed up content operations, and win more moments of discovery with confidence. Start with governance, engineer for citation, then scale with human oversight.

References:

• Boston Consulting Group. (2025). CMOs must protect the brand in an AI-first world.
• McKinsey & Company. (2025, January 6). How beauty players can scale gen AI in 2025.
• Google. Secure AI Framework (SAIF). 
• Gartner. (2024). AI trust, risk and security management (AI TRiSM).
• Forrester. (2023, Oct 31). Predictions 2024: Agencies’ shift to solutions and brand language models.
• Pew Research Center. (2025, July 22). Do people click on links in Google AI summaries?
• Google. (2024, July). How AI Overviews in Search work. PDF.
• Semrush. (2025, July 22). AI Overviews’ impact on search.
• OpenAI. Safety and responsibility.
• The CMO Survey. (2025). Highlights and Insights Report.
• Google. (2024, July 1). Disclosure for digitally altered content in election ads. Reuters report.
• Google. (2025, Mar 5). Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode.
• Google. AI Overviews: ways to search.
• Google. Advancing AI safely and responsibly. 

Internal content that matters:

• Get the basics right
• Start with the customer
• Reduce churn risk
• Design for conversational journeys

Kickstart Your Journey to Brand Protection Today!

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Artificial intelligence has moved from “interesting” to “indispensable.” Nielsen’s June 2025 research shows 59 % of global marketers rank AI-powered campaign personalisation as the single most impactful trend for the year ahead. McKinsey’s January study agrees, calling AI-driven personalisation “the next frontier” for profitable growth. Across the C-suite, pressure is rising: 61 % of CMOs now feel direct CEO demands to prove AI’s financial impact.

Strategic truth: CMOs who seize AI early secure a first-mover advantage; those who wait face a shrinking window of differentiation.

From Hype to Habit

Gartner and Forrester both predict that 2025 will be the tipping point when AI budgets surpass traditional martech investments, emphasising the urgency.

Three AI Frontiers Every CMO Must Master

Hyper-Personalisation at Scale

Dynamic creative swaps once handled hundreds of segments; GenAI now handles millions of individuals in real time. Mckinsey estimates up to £4.4 trillion in incremental global productivity, with marketing & sales capturing 25 % of that value.

AI-Native Measurement & MMM

Traditional multi-touch attribution under-reports dark-funnel impact and AI Overviews. Semrush finds Google’s AI Overviews already surface in 13 % of queries (March 2025, +72 % MoM) semrush.com, while Ahrefs reports a 34.5 % click-through decline when an AI Overview is present ahrefs.com. CMOs must therefore:

1. Model incrementality, not last-click.

2. Optimise for “answer engine visibility”, not just blue links—see our guide to AI-powered search.

Privacy-Safe Personalisation

Nielsen notes that 45 % of marketers cite data deprecation as their biggest AI obstacle. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 60 % of brands will replace third-party data with consent-based, AI-derived first-party insights. Build zero-party value exchanges today.

Action Plan: Four Moves for Immediate Advantage

Need a blueprint? Read our data-driven efficiency playbook for CMOs 

Positioning for AI Overviews (Be the Answer)

1. Authority content: Publish expert POVs mapped to high-intent “how” and “why” queries.

2. Structured signals: Use schema.org FAQ & How-To markup.

3. Refresh velocity: Ahrefs shows recency correlates with brand visibility in AI Overviews, ahrefs.com.

4. Conversational snippets: Optimise passages for transformer scoring—short, declarative, 50-75 words.

Learn how to “Fix Your Digital Marketing Campaigns” in five steps.

Conclusion

AI is no longer a future consideration; it has become a crucial competitive advantage. Companies that act early and effectively align data, talent, and governance will experience significant growth, while late adopters will face increasing opportunity costs. Digital Outcomes can help you enhance your marketing campaigns by implementing data-driven strategies across all digital assets for better results.

References

BCG. (2025, June 20). Closing the AI impact gap. bcg.com
Boston Consulting Group. (2025, June 17). Mark Abraham on generative AI at Cannes. businessinsider.com
Forrester. (2024, Oct.). Predictions 2025: Hard-won insights drive growth. forrester.com
McKinsey & Company. (2025, Jan 30). Unlocking the next frontier of personalised marketing. mckinsey.com
McKinsey & Company. (2025). The economic potential of generative AI. mckinsey.com
Nielsen. (2025, June 25). How AI is redefining marketing, today and tomorrow. nielsen.com
Semrush. (2025, May ). AI Overviews study. semrush.com
Ahrefs. (2025, May 19). Insights from 55.8 M AI Overviews. ahrefs.com
Ahrefs. (2025, Apr ). AI Overviews reduce clicks by 34.5 %. ahrefs.com
The CMO Survey. (2025). Highlights & insights report. https://cmosurvey.org/
Think with Google. (2024, Dec.). Top digital marketing trends 2025. thinkwithgoogle.com

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