Dentsu Creative has released a report stating that while artificial intelligence (AI) is now firmly embedded in global marketing practice, the need for human imagination, empathy and cultural intelligence has never been greater.
The agency’s annual Global CMO Report 2025, Agents of Reinvention: Marketing at the Intersection of AI and Human Ingenuity, draws on insights from more than 1,950 senior marketers across 14 markets.
The survey was conducted online in April 2025 across 14 countries, including the UK, US, India, Japan, Germany and Brazil, with representation from companies of all sizes. It identifies 10 key themes shaping the profession this year, from anticipating algorithms and building intimacy with consumers to investing in cultural trust in an era of “agentic AI”.
The findings reveal stark contradictions. Almost every chief marketing officer surveyed said they use AI in their personal workflow, with more than 30% doing so daily. Yet 87% believe modern marketing strategies will demand more human creativity and empathy, while 78% insist generative AI will never replace human imagination, an increase of 13 percentage points from last year.
AI is seen as a crucial enabler of content at scale, but speed alone is not enough. Ninety per cent of CMOs want to combine agile production with intelligent data to deliver the right message at the right time, but 76% admit their ability to create content quickly remains a barrier to effective personalisation.
The tension between visibility and distinctiveness is also rising. Seventy-one percent of CMOs agree that “if I don’t win with the algorithm, I will be invisible”, yet 79% fear that optimising too heavily for algorithms risks producing a “sea of sameness”.
Cultural impact is increasingly viewed as the antidote. Eighty-four per cent of CMOs said they need to win “share of culture” rather than just “share of voice”, though 81% admit there are too few proven models to achieve this. Marketers are looking to entertainment tie-ups, community engagement and creator collaborations as solutions.
The report also highlights the growing dominance of social and influencer-led content. Nine in ten CMOs believe it generates greater engagement than traditional advertising, while 91% said brands are now built through partnerships with creators and cultural tastemakers, a 14-point rise year on year. More than 70% plan to devote over a fifth of their budgets to innovation.
Despite AI’s rapid advance, trust remains paramount. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents believe agentic AI will have a profound impact on their businesses, but the same proportion stressed that trust and taste will matter more than ever as automated agents curate everything from travel itineraries to shopping baskets.
Abbey Klaassen, global brand president of Dentsu Creative, said the findings underscored the need to connect creativity, media, data and production in real time. “The future of marketing is about augmenting human ingenuity with AI,” she said. “It’s not about doing more with less, it’s about doing things we couldn’t do before.”
Yasu Sasaki, the company’s global chief creative officer, added: “AI is exceptionally good at prediction but creativity by its nature is unpredictable. The premium on originality and innovation has never been higher.”
Patricia McDonald, global chief strategy officer, warned that marketers face “an extraordinary series of paradoxes”. She said: “The more we embrace AI, the more human we must become; unearthing the deeply personal truths, grounded in culture, that resonate, differentiate and scale.”
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In India, Amit Wadhwa, CEO of Dentsu Creative & Media Brands South Asia, argued that brands will succeed only by “out-humaning the algorithm” through imagination, empathy and cultural trust.
The agency’s annual Global CMO Report 2025, Agents of Reinvention: Marketing at the Intersection of AI and Human Ingenuity, draws on insights from more than 1,950 senior marketers across 14 markets.
The survey was conducted online in April 2025 across 14 countries, including the UK, US, India, Japan, Germany and Brazil, with representation from companies of all sizes. It identifies 10 key themes shaping the profession this year, from anticipating algorithms and building intimacy with consumers to investing in cultural trust in an era of “agentic AI”.
The findings reveal stark contradictions. Almost every chief marketing officer surveyed said they use AI in their personal workflow, with more than 30% doing so daily. Yet 87% believe modern marketing strategies will demand more human creativity and empathy, while 78% insist generative AI will never replace human imagination, an increase of 13 percentage points from last year.
AI is seen as a crucial enabler of content at scale, but speed alone is not enough. Ninety per cent of CMOs want to combine agile production with intelligent data to deliver the right message at the right time, but 76% admit their ability to create content quickly remains a barrier to effective personalisation.
The tension between visibility and distinctiveness is also rising. Seventy-one percent of CMOs agree that “if I don’t win with the algorithm, I will be invisible”, yet 79% fear that optimising too heavily for algorithms risks producing a “sea of sameness”.
Cultural impact is increasingly viewed as the antidote. Eighty-four per cent of CMOs said they need to win “share of culture” rather than just “share of voice”, though 81% admit there are too few proven models to achieve this. Marketers are looking to entertainment tie-ups, community engagement and creator collaborations as solutions.
The report also highlights the growing dominance of social and influencer-led content. Nine in ten CMOs believe it generates greater engagement than traditional advertising, while 91% said brands are now built through partnerships with creators and cultural tastemakers, a 14-point rise year on year. More than 70% plan to devote over a fifth of their budgets to innovation.
Despite AI’s rapid advance, trust remains paramount. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents believe agentic AI will have a profound impact on their businesses, but the same proportion stressed that trust and taste will matter more than ever as automated agents curate everything from travel itineraries to shopping baskets.
Abbey Klaassen, global brand president of Dentsu Creative, said the findings underscored the need to connect creativity, media, data and production in real time. “The future of marketing is about augmenting human ingenuity with AI,” she said. “It’s not about doing more with less, it’s about doing things we couldn’t do before.”
Yasu Sasaki, the company’s global chief creative officer, added: “AI is exceptionally good at prediction but creativity by its nature is unpredictable. The premium on originality and innovation has never been higher.”
Patricia McDonald, global chief strategy officer, warned that marketers face “an extraordinary series of paradoxes”. She said: “The more we embrace AI, the more human we must become; unearthing the deeply personal truths, grounded in culture, that resonate, differentiate and scale.”
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