About the authors ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Inside the minds of Europe’s marketing executives: Three themes.................................................. 5 Theme 1: Be trusted ..........................................................................................................................6 Theme 2: Be effective ........................................................................................................................7 Theme 3: Be bold ..............................................................................................................................8 Where action is needed: Four topics ...................................................................................................9 State of Marketing Europe: Facts and figures ...................................................................................... 11 Be trusted: Branding and authenticity .................................................................................................. 14 Doubling down on long-term brand building ....................................................................................... 15 Charting a new era through interactive branding ................................................................................16 Embracing full-funnel, multipurpose campaigns ................................................................................19 Overcoming branding challenges by adopting gen AI and agentic AI ..................................................... 21 Conclusion: Building emotional relevance and trust in a transformative era .......................................... 22 Interview: How Schneider Electric is building a trusted B2B brand ...................................................... 22 Be effective: Marketing ROI and budget management ....................................................................26 Marketing budget management to drive profitable growth ................................................................. 26 Investing in profitable growth .......................................................................................................... 28 Managing marketing budgets to drive profitable growth ..................................................................... 29 Facing obstacles in holistic MROI coverage ....................................................................................... 31 Establishing the right operating model for MROI ............................................................................... 32 Conclusion: Focusing on three strategic pillars to drive profitable growth ............................................. 34 Interview: How Lindt & Sprüngli is spending smartly to build the most valuable chocolate brand ............ 35 Be bold: Gen AI and agentic AI ................................................................................................................39 Shifting to customer-facing use cases ..............................................................................................40 Overcoming challenges ................................................................................................................... 41 Conclusion: Capitalizing on the next phase—agentic AI ...................................................................... 43 Interview: Inside BMG’s gen AI revolution ......................................................................................... 44 Contents 1 Past forward: The modern rethinking of marketing’s core