A new global study from the CMO Council and WongDoody argues that artificial intelligence alone is not enough to transform marketing performance. Instead, organizations that combine AI with human creativity, judgment, and emotional intelligence are significantly more likely to generate ROI, build stronger customer relationships, and outperform slower-moving peers.

As generative AI adoption spreads across marketing departments, a new report suggests the real winners may not be the companies deploying the most AI tools — but those redesigning marketing operations around human-machine collaboration.

The CMO Council, in partnership with WongDoody, has released new research titled Marketing’s Power Partners: AI and the Human Essence, based on a survey of 371 senior marketing leaders worldwide. Its central conclusion is direct: AI creates the most business value when paired with human marketers rather than used as a standalone replacement strategy.

The report labels top-performing organizations as Power Partners — companies that intentionally combine machine intelligence with human decision-making, creativity, and emotional understanding.

A Clear Performance Gap

The data points to a widening divide between mature adopters and everyone else.

According to the study, 73% of Power Partners say they exceed ROI expectations or achieve measurable returns from AI investments, compared with only 22% of other organizations. Nearly 70% of Power Partners report consistently building strong emotional customer connections, versus 40% of peers.

The difference extends into campaign performance. 86% of Power Partners say AI has delivered moderate-to-major ROI impact, while only 43% of less advanced organizations report the same.

Those numbers reinforce a growing market reality: AI tools are widely available, but value creation is uneven.

That mirrors broader enterprise technology trends. According to Gartner, many AI initiatives fail not because of model quality, but because organizations lack operational readiness, trusted data, and clear ownership models.

Workflow Redesign Matters More Than Tool Adoption

One of the report’s strongest findings is that AI success depends less on software procurement and more on process redesign.

The study found 70% of Power Partners are prepared to redesign workflows for AI-human collaboration, compared with only 7% of peers. Meanwhile, 94% have clearly defined collaborative content processes, versus 42% of other respondents.

That suggests many marketing teams are still treating AI as a bolt-on productivity tool rather than a structural operating model change.

Examples of redesign may include using AI for research, audience clustering, media optimization, content drafts, and reporting, while human marketers focus on brand positioning, creative direction, emotional resonance, and strategic decisions.

In practice, that can turn AI from a tactical assistant into a multiplier.

Why Many Organizations Are Falling Behind

The report identifies several barriers slowing adoption:

• AI skills gaps and lack of training
• Low trust in AI-generated outputs
• Concerns around brand authenticity
• Weak or fragmented customer data
• Unclear division of labor between people and AI systems

These are less technical problems than organizational ones.

Many enterprises still operate with siloed teams, legacy approval processes, and disconnected martech stacks. Adding AI into those environments often produces isolated pilots rather than scaled transformation.

For CMOs, this is becoming a leadership challenge as much as a technology one.

Regional and Business Model Differences

The research also highlights geographic and sector-based divides.

In the United States, organizations appear further ahead in AI adoption and measurable returns, though maintaining emotional relevance at scale remains a challenge. Europe faces more structural constraints tied to fragmented data readiness. APAC shows strong investment momentum, but cultural resistance to change is slowing execution.

The gap is also visible across business models.

B2C and hybrid companies are more likely to achieve strong ROI and redesign workflows, likely because they have higher campaign velocity, larger customer datasets, and more pressure for personalization.

B2B organizations, by contrast, often use AI narrowly for productivity gains rather than end-to-end transformation.

That is notable because B2B marketing increasingly depends on account intelligence, predictive demand generation, sales alignment, and complex buying journeys — all areas where AI can create material advantage if integrated properly.

Marketing to Machines

One of the report’s more forward-looking ideas is that brands are increasingly marketing not only to people, but to machines that influence purchasing decisions.

AI assistants, recommendation engines, procurement algorithms, and autonomous buying systems are beginning to shape discovery and decision-making. That means future marketing strategies may need to optimize for both human emotion and machine evaluation.

This could reshape SEO, ecommerce merchandising, content strategy, and B2B buying experiences.

The Bigger Takeaway

The study’s core message is timely: AI does not eliminate the need for marketers. It changes where marketers create value.

If marketing teams are defined by repetitive tasks, automation may replace them. If they are defined by judgment, empathy, narrative building, and strategic interpretation, AI can amplify them.

For enterprise leaders, the implication is clear. Competitive advantage will not come from simply buying AI tools. It will come from redesigning teams, workflows, and decision systems around collaborative intelligence.

That divide is already forming — and according to the CMO Council, it is growing quickly.

Market Landscape

Marketing AI adoption is accelerating across platforms from Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Salesforce, HubSpot, and enterprise martech vendors. Yet many organizations remain stuck between experimentation and scaled ROI. The next phase of competition is shifting from tool access to workflow orchestration, trusted data, governance, and human-AI collaboration models.

Top Insights

• CMO Council found companies blending AI with human marketers are 3x more likely to achieve measurable ROI.
• Workflow redesign matters more than simply adding AI tools to legacy marketing processes.
• Power Partners outperform peers in emotional connection, speed, creativity, and adaptability.
• Skills gaps, trust issues, and weak data remain major blockers to AI success.
• B2B marketers risk falling behind if AI is used only for productivity instead of transformation.

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