Dear Marketeers,

First of all, thank you! Thank you for still being there, doing your not-so-easy job day after day – and answering our CMO Barometer questions year after year. Not only do you help us to understand the key issues that concern you, but you also help us to better understand your role and your workload. And between us, times have been rosier and our jobs easier.

If we recapitulate the mood and challenges of recent years, we can see that the demands on marketeers have become increasingly diverse. The last few years have seen one crisis after another: pandemic, war, recession. And now there is the added challenge of artificial intelligence, to name just one of many new technologies. All this makes marketing a crucial part of companies and brands. A stabiliser of trust with customers and everyone else. A key driver of sales. A saviour of sustainability. And an integrator of future technology and therefore future readiness.

There's a lot on your shoulders. And as a result, the lightness and perhaps even the fun of the job seem to be less and less a part of it. In the latest CMO Barometer topics such as personalisation, ROI and performance are incredibly well represented. Across all markets. Efficiency is the key word. It seems to be all about doing as much as possible as quickly as possible at the lowest possible cost. And as if that were not enough, internal leadership and change management challenges are adding to the pressure.

So, dear marketeers, how are we going to get through this? How can we withstand the pressure? The trend is towards performance-driven managers of the unknown future. I ask myself: Is the job today still what you imagined when you decided to do it?

I have the feeling that you are the test subjects for almost every step a company takes: Reduce costs, ensure impact and reach, be innovative and have the right expertise to answer all the questions. As described in the latest CMO Barometer, it is only logical that you need the support of artificial intelligence. The challenge: there is no manual for this. You have to figure it out for yourself. And no one can help you, can they?

No one knows where AI and the future will take us. But we have each other, our community, our collaboration. Let's give each other the support we need right now. Let's test applications together, create best cases, learn from each other, and build the future one step at a time. Right now. And let's bring back the humanity and fun, the love of creativity, the creation of emotional brand worlds and the joyful exchange with stakeholders – despite, or perhaps because of, all the technical innovations. Who says AI should only make us more efficient? If we see it not just as a tool for optimising performance, but as a source of inspiration, a dialogue partner and an enabler of the future.

For my part, I remain #FuturePositive. Can we achieve this together? That would be desirable.