Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo 2025: Day 1 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from Day 1 of the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo, taking place this week in Denver. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference. 

On Day 1, we are highlighting how CMOs can navigate extraordinary expectations from the enterprise, customers, and their teams, how to build a CX business case for AI innovation, and how CMOs are leveraging data, analytics and measurement to optimize performance while still thinking there is more to uncover. 

• Gartner Survey Finds Digital Channels Account for 61.1% of Total Marketing Spend
• New CMOs Must Bridge the Expectations Gap by Aligning Marketing with C-Suite Priorities

Presented by Alex De Fursac Gash, Vice President Analyst, and Kristina LaRocca-Cerrone, Vice President, Advisory, Gartner

Marketing leaders face extraordinary expectations from the enterprise, customers, and their teams. These have been driven up by increased demands for AI adoption, product innovation, increasingly complex buying journeys and shifting customer preferences. In the Opening Keynote at Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo, Alex De Fursac Gash, Vice President Analyst, and Kristina LaRocca-Cerrone, Vice President, Advisory at Gartner discussed how CMOs can navigate this new landscape.

• “Marketing leaders face immense pressure to work harder, deliver faster, to use less but deliver more. They’re working in an environment of constant change, endless new demands and cross-functional complexity.”

• “Marketing is currently accountable for 5 different areas or initiatives on average. According to a Gartner survey, this number is set to grow to 8 areas of accountability.”

• “Continuing to walk the same path of the ‘typical’ marketing journey rapidly diminishes the probability of success. Adaptability is key - in fact, failure to adapt is a top reason CEOs say they’ve parted ways with their CMO.”

• “A key reason why many CMOs struggle to implement their long-term plans is strategic dysfunction: marketing and enterprise objectives that are numerous and conflicting. To resolve this, CMOs need a new approach to strategic planning.”

• “A recent Gartner survey revealed that many CMOs fit one of two profiles: enterprise operators or market shapers. While enterprise operators focus inwards, market shapers have deep customer and marketing insight.  Being seen as a market shaper makes a CMO eight times more likely to succeed in their role.”

• “Maket shaping CMOs focus on shaping for things:

  • Enterprise leadership commitments to the customer

  • Enterprise understanding of and response to disruptive forces

  • Customer preferences for your organization over the competition

  • Future product strategy by helping product leaders understand unmet customer needs.”

Clients can read additional insights in: “Lead Marketing’s Epic Journey to Growth: 2025 Marketing Symposium Keynote Insights.”

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Juliette Dixon at juliette.dixon@gartner.com.

Presented by Chad Storlie, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner

In a rapidly evolving landscape, integrating AI into customer experience (CX) strategies is essential for organizational growth. In this session, Chad Storlie, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner, outlined a structured approach to harness AI effectively within businesses. 

• “By leveraging voice of the customer (VoC) data, businesses can pinpoint critical areas for AI application, therefore enhancing customer relationships and driving revenue growth.”

• “AI should be directed to enhance, not define, organizational goals, particularly in CX.”

• “Voice of the customer data is vital for identifying financial opportunities, and critical CX needs to apply AI technology applications."

• Marketing needs to lead the organization with an open, consistent and systematic process to gather, estimate, evaluate and prioritize AI business use cases.”

• “AI is a strategic lever for growth, requiring consistent prioritization across the organization.”

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Juliette Dixon at juliette.dixon@gartner.com.

Presented by David Walters, Director Analyst, Gartner

According to a recent Gartner survey, marketing data and analytics is the top capability gap keeping CMOs from achieving business goals. In this session, David Walters, Director Analyst at Gartner, discussed how CMOs are leveraging data, analytics and measurement to optimize performance while still thinking there is more to uncover.

• "CMOs have taken the leap, they’re starting to utilize data and analytics – driving productivity – but they still think there are issues and opportunities. ”

• “There are three things that are shaking the foundation of marketers’ data-driven dynasties: 

  • Organization changes: in recent years marketing analytics teams reported into the CMO. Now, 78% of marketing leaders are centralizing their marketing analytics into their enterprise data & analytics function.  

  • Talent gaps: According to a recent Gartner survey, 72% of senior marketing leaders identified skills & talent as one of their top barriers to proving marketing value. Soft skills, analytical skills, and technical skills were all called out as perceived gaps that must be addressed through hiring and upskilling.  

  • Effective leadership: CMOs viewed as having strong data analytic expertise are 17x more likely to exceed CEO and CFO performance expectations vs. CMOs with weak data analytic expertise."

• “Marketing leaders executing a high number of analytics activities in role are significantly more likely to prove value and get credit for business outcomes.”

• “Even when meeting targets, fewer than half of CEO/CFO’s think CMO’s are exceeding expectations. CMO’s who have D&A experience (whether past or current) tend to have more success proving value.”

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Juliette Dixon at juliette.dixon@gartner.com.