The outside air at Davos may have been in the minus figures, but inside the lounges and meeting rooms, conversation was blisteringly hot.
More used to sunnier climes (Cannes, anyone?), CMOs haven’t always been seen by the CXO community as natural Davos attendees. Jennifer Chase, CMO, SAS admitted on LinkedIn that she felt ‘imposter syndrome’ on arrival. That feeling faded fast. Like others, she left convinced that CMOs are essential to Davos discussions.
The organisers agree. Davos 2026 hosted more CMO gatherings than ever, including a 2-day CMO summit hosted by Adweek, Microsoft, Adobe and The Female Quotient.
Across the week, five themes defined the 2026 CMO agenda.
TL/DR?
At Davos 2026, CMO conversation was about trust, humans, and leadership that puts them at the heart of everything.
The AI conversation was flipped on its head, with CMOs spotlighting the incredible things humans can do with all the time AI saves us, rather than how we compete.
Top 5 takeaways for B2B Marketers from Davos 2026
1. CMOs belong at Davos like never before
Davos 2026 made one thing clear: this is a defining moment for the CMO. Bonnie Pelosi, CMO, Microsoft EMEA, explained: ‘Davos 2026 reinforced something I believe deeply: this is the CMO’s moment’. Emma Chalwin, CMO, Workday, agreed: ‘gone are the days where we’re fighting for a seat at the table’.
But greater influence brings greater responsibility. In an era defined by disruption and scepticism, CMOs are expected to restore trust, shape growth and lead transformation. This is in their wheelhouse. As Jennifer Chase observed, CMOs are ‘uniquely positioned to turn complexity into clarity’.
The CMO remit is expanding in response. Bonnie Pelosi argued that ‘CMOs need to be a literal driving force for culture, not just brand’. With marketing among the top functions for tech transformation investment, more is being asked of the CMO now than ever before.
As Rachel Thornton, CMO, Adobe, summed it up: ‘The future of marketing is now’.
2. Trust is a scarce and precious resource.
If one word defined Davos for CMOs, it was trust.
Infosys Global CMO Sumit Virmani referenced the broader ‘crisis of trust’ linked to social insularity and geopolitical tension. John Rudaizky, CMO, EY, described trust as the ‘scarcest resource’. In an AI-saturated world, he asks, ‘what does ‘authentic’ even mean anymore? And why should anyone trust a brand in that world?’
The risk is not simply bad AI – it is generic AI. Rudaizky calls this ‘sameness’, warning us that ‘as more brands rely on the same models…experiences feel templated, distinctiveness disappears’. And this erodes trust.
CMOs are uniquely positioned to defend against this erosion. In Jennifer Chase’s words: ‘CMOs are stewards of trust – they shape how organizations show up, how transparently they communicate and how authentically they engage with the world’.
Jessica Jensen, CMO, LinkedIn, pointed out that the terms of trust are evolving. Gen Z, she says ‘care enormously about belonging and the purpose of organisations’. Listening to this cohort can help marketing leaders protect their brand.
Today, trust underpins business growth and CMOs are at the centre of safeguarding it.
3. To work, marketing needs to show up as human.
Emma Chalwin, CMO at Workday, captures this shift: “We’ve moved beyond B2B and B2C — welcome to B2Human. We don’t sell to businesses or consumers — we sell to humans.”
For marketers, this means building intentional, authentic connections. As Chalwin put it, ‘no one wants marketing fluff’.
CMOs argued that authenticity requires vulnerability. In a volatile, AI-driven world, ‘vulnerability is a superpower’ — and emotional intelligence is how brands stand out.
But it’s hard to show up as authentic in a world of synthetic content. How can marketers do this? When it comes to personal brands – the brand each of us puts out into the world as leaders – we need to create and share more content, to raise visibility. At an EY-hosted lunch, CMOs discussed the importance of maintaining executive credibility by posting often and via video on LinkedIn and social media.
Human marketers are more necessary than ever. Sure, AI can help us scale the content needed to show up authentically, but good marketing requires real humans to make it emotionally intelligent.
4. We need to reframe the conversation around AI adoption
CMOs agree: AI has been framed the wrong way.
Brands need to stop talking about how AI can cut costs and headcount and start talking about how it elevates human performance.
Jennifer Chase underlined this, quoting Bryan Harris, CTO, SAS, who said ‘we need to move the conversation away from headcount reduction and toward capability elevation’.
But reframing the story externally isn’t enough. CMOs must lead adoption internally.
For Jennifer Chase, a ‘stand-out’ moment came from an HBR panel: ‘modern leaders must learn, experiment, and model AI behaviours themselves’. For CMOs, that means ‘rolling up our sleeves, testing workflows, learning the technology firsthand, and setting the tone for what digital leadership looks like inside the organization’.
CMOs also need to lead a new narrative on change and re imagining the way work gets done. Emma Chalwin posted: ‘AI isn’t technical — it’s cultural’.
The implication for B2B marketers is clear. AI strategy is not a tools conversation. It is a leadership and culture conversation.
5. Let’s start talking about how we use the time that AI saves us.
Today’s pace of change feels relentless. As Emma Chalwin put it, ‘It takes loads of courage right now to hit ‘pause,” so our teams can actually be creative, instead of just being busy’.
AI can offer that pause, if leaders use it intentionally. Chalwin described this as ‘AI’s gift’: freeing up time for higher-value thinking. We should not, she argues, ‘use tech to squeeze more out of people; we should use it to lift them up’.
Rachel Thornton, CMO, Adobe, echoed the opportunity. Yes, ‘AI can definitely help you scale things’, she said. But the real value lies in creating space for ‘that human creative spark’ — the time to ask, ‘how can I land this campaign?’.
CMOs linked AI literacy to fulfilment at work. Antonio Lucio, CMO, HP, expressed hope for a ‘more fulfilling professional environment’, noting that when organisations equip employees with AI fluency, ‘people are more professionally fulfilled, organizations grow stronger, and opportunity scales for all’.
The competitive advantage is no longer the AI. It is what marketers do with the space AI creates.
Ei Advisory provides B2B sales and marketing intelligence that helps companies reach, engage and convert customers. Powered by a combination of expert human analysis and our proprietary technology, Mercury, we serve clients globally from offices in London and New York.
Get in touch to find out how we can help you build trust and relevance in complex markets, contact Rachel Reasbeck at rachel.reasbeck@ei-a.com