We would like to thank the numerous industry experts who participated in this year’s “State of Marketing” survey, the findings from which form the foundation of this report. Our special thanks go to Benjamin Faveris, Daniel Studer, Jochen Hartmann, Ricardo Azenha, Richella Odebrecht, and Thomas Coesfeld for their time and the valuable insights they provided. Without a strong team, this report would not have been possible. Special thanks go to the following McKinsey experts and colleagues who made significant contributions to individual chapters: Alexandre Oriez, Aline Dahmen, Amelie Huber, Annika Wiecek, Bogdan Toma, Carlotta Massari, Christian Pötzelsberger, Davide Zullo, Jan Ole Krugmann, Jan Overberg, Julia Friedl, Leila Khalil, Marta Castiella, Mateusz Michulka, Matthias Pum, Patrick Pfeiffer, Robert Schwarz, Sarah André, Sonia Hennemann, Steffen Klug, Thomas Schmitz, William Wei, and Yvonne Staack. We also thank Barr Seitz, Cindy Van Horne, Jennifer Stetson, John-Michael Maas, Linda Dommes, Luke Collins, and Maike Moorhoff for their editorial support. Acknowledgments Caroline Meder is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Munich office, supporting technology, telecommunications, and consumer-facing companies with growth and commercial transformations using deep expertise in marketing effectiveness and sales acceleration. Dominik Müller is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Hamburg office, advising organizations on digitized growth models and brand and marketing approaches in the retail, consumer and technology, media and telecommunications space across Europe. Sarah Sahel is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Paris office. She partners with consumer- facing companies in hospitality, retail, and luxury to accelerate growth and commercial transformations. She has deep expertise in marketing transformation, brand strategy, marketing operating model design, and B2C pricing. 3 Past forward: The modern rethinking of marketing’s core