The CMO Summit: Ecologi and CRU CMOs on Marketing Leadership

The role of the CMO is continuing to expand in both scope and influence, with economic pressures, digital acceleration and stakeholder scrutiny intensifying. 

In fact, a 2026 survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group has found that 94% of Chief Marketing Officers say that CEO expectations of marketing have increased significantly over the past two years. 

Exploring this in more detail on day two of the CXO Summit at the CMO Summit panel are Adam Boita, Chief Marketing Officer of Ecologi and Bridget Kendrick, Chief Marketing Officer and Global Head of Marketing at CRU Group.

Collaborating with the C-suite

In order to demonstrate measurable value, many marketing leaders are focusing more on highlighting the economic benefits of the function in their conversations with other leaders. 

“Collaboration between us and the Chief Financial Officers and Chief Product Officers can help give a better understanding of what marketing can bring to the table,” says Bridget. “It’s not just ‘the girls with the crayons’ – marketing offers growth, real growth, in terms of leads, go-to-market strategy and targeting.”

But communicating the value of marketing can often be harder in practice, with Deloitte’s 2025 CMO Survey finding that the single most pressing issue for marketers is demonstrating the impact of marketing actions on financial outcomes. 

“Marketing is one of those things where, if someone comes in and wants to cut costs, they think of marketing,” says Bridget. “The thing is with people like that is that you need to spend time with them, talk them through your plans. You need to make sure you’re working together so they understand what you’re doing.” 

Adam agrees, suggesting that marketing leaders are uniquely positioned to “join the dots” across an organisation – sharing that Ecologi has worked to “break down silos” and get teams to work together as one. 

“We’ve tried to position collaboration between sales, product and marketing as one growth engine that we own as a business,” he explains. 

“By breaking down these silos, we can better understand what is and isn’t working within our teams. This ensures marketing has a seat at the table in terms of its return on investment, because marketing can be a revenue-generating machine.” 

The importance of storytelling in marketing

Having strong marketing leadership in place can make a significant difference to a company’s overall performance – aligning strategy across departments, proving revenue impact and using customer insights to lead company-wide growth. 

But what makes a strong marketing leader? 

“I came into marketing with a history degree, because of the combination of data, facts and storytelling,” says Bridget. “And those are the traits that make an excellent marketer. 

“When you can do that storytelling and communicating in a boardroom, particularly when you can back it up with data and facts. Being able to switch between the two – being clear about what the vision is and having the plans to back it up – is what makes a leader.” 

But in order to communicate these ideas, it's important to speak the language of other senior leaders. 

“I think that internal storytelling piece is almost as important as the external storytelling piece,” says Adam. “That’s why proving the ROI, being a business growth driver and talking the language of the board is so important.”

Thank you to our sponsors at the inaugural CXO Summit: Alexander Group, HiBob and Malt.