IRG: Why CMOs must put people at the center of AI adoption

The Institute for Real Growth (IRG) is exploring opportunities for marketing leaders to drive change in the era of AI. The IRG launched a study to understand AI’s impact on the industry and how CMOs play a pivotal role in AI adoption at their companies.

What does it mean to promote growth in the AI era? How can marketing leaders bring their teams along on the journey?

To answer these questions, the Institute for Real Growth (IRG) set out to collect firsthand accounts from more than 150 CMOs. The resulting study found that while AI’s efficiency wins are well-documented, they’ve also become table stakes for doing business. The real opportunity lies in finding ways to drive new growth, and that means equipping leaders with best practices for managing this unique era of change.

We sat down with IRG founder Marc de Swaan Arons and content director Mariana Peneva to unpack how CMOs are championing AI adoption by putting human talent at the center of their efforts.

Think with Google: Thanks so much for talking with us, Marc and Mariana. Can you start by setting the scene for us? Where do CMOs find themselves in 2025?

Marc de Swaan Arons: It was only in 2023 that generative AI technology became widely accessible. By 2024, experimentation was everywhere: chatbots, note takers, social media filters, and more. But 2025 marks a pivotal point. The technology and consumer attitudes have matured quickly, shifting from experimentation to implementation.

Mariana Peneva: Marketing has been going through a similar journey from discovery to adoption. CMOs are telling us that, so far, the focus has been mainly on efficiency. And yes, AI tools can improve creative or operational output, but the truth is, this is not going to be a business differentiator. It’s like the early days of digital marketing. Simply getting your brand online with a website or a social presence wasn’t enough.

Your latest study is called “Humanized Growth in the Era of AI.” Can you define what you mean by “humanized growth”?

Marc: Humanized growth is about long-term value creation for all stakeholders: the customers, the colleagues, the communities, and the capital markets. While everyone focuses on top-line revenue growth as a priority, the winning companies focus more on the people: the people they work with, the people they serve, the communities in which they operate. As a result of all this, the capital markets reflect that impact. It is this holistic, long-term approach that defines humanized growth, and it is something that truly sets the winners apart.

What do you see leading CMOs doing with AI that other CMOs aren’t?

Mariana: This is the core question of our latest study. We looked at what companies that overperform on growth are doing differently compared to their underperforming competitors. Our study found that 95% of CMOs we surveyed view AI as an opportunity, not a risk. In the interviews with CMOs, we observed a shift in their mindsets. Many of our CMOs were in a reactive and defensive mode last year, afraid that their CEO or CFO would ask about something they weren’t sure about. This year, they are taking the lead in talking about AI.

Marc: What sets the CMOs of winning organizations apart is their thinking beyond efficiency. Winning CMOs understand better the impact of AI on the business as a whole and use AI to drive business growth. L’Oréal, for example, launched Beauty Genius, an AI-powered advisor that connects data, service, and branding to personalize customer experiences in powerful ways and to reshape customer relationships. The app has significantly improved customer engagement and L’Oréal’s Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Asmita Dubey has described it as one of the brand’s most valuable personalization tools.

Can you share some other examples where you’ve seen marketing leaders using AI to drive business growth?

Mariana: In our conversations with senior leaders, it became clear that growth overperformers will use AI to unlock value for all those stakeholders: colleagues, customers, communities, and capital markets. Let me give you a few examples from our interviews.

The CMO of a food chain explained how they are using AI assistants to schedule shifts not only according to the needs of the business but also in line with the employees’ preferences. This came about as the CMO and chief human resource officer collaborated closely to align the brand with company culture. The result was improved employee engagement and satisfaction.

For customers, some great examples include Seedlip’s AI concierge mixologist, helping consumers discover new nonalcoholic cocktails with the goal of boosting shopper frequency. Or Pampers’s smart sizing tool, ensuring parents get the right diaper fit for their baby. These aren’t gimmicky marketing apps. They are using AI to create genuine value and helpful tools for customers.

Marc: There are now tools that help communities preserve value in a very literal sense. Suncorp, an insurer in Australia, uses AI to predict natural disasters and minimize damage. It’s launched Haven, a first-of-its-kind digital tool informed by risk data and tailored property insights that helps Australian homeowners better understand the extreme weather risks they face and how to take proactive steps.

And finally, about capital markets, Mondelēz is prioritizing its AI initiatives using a pain-versus-gain matrix to focus on efforts that will not only improve marketing but also significantly contribute to their business results.

So how can CMOs use their role to drive AI adoption and impact across their companies?

Marc: In a previous study, we found that CMOs with three or more high-impact partnerships across the C-suite outperform their peers in revenue growth. AI success isn’t siloed; it’s deeply collaborative.

Mariana: But those partnerships aren’t necessarily with just the tech partners you might expect. In fact, the study showed that all CMOs partner with IT for AI adoption, but the winning CMOs partner significantly more with HR. This tells us that they truly put people at the center of this transformation. One U.S. retailer told us they’re investing from both a technology and an HR perspective, because people need to be trained on the new tech. If they’re not, it simply won’t work.

Marc: At H&R Block, CMO Jill Cress works closely with the CEO to prioritize capabilities building for the whole business, resulting in a 24% increase in the use of AI-powered marketing tools across her teams. Cress’s approach focuses on empathy and education, understanding and empowering the people in her organization.

At P&G, Taide Guajardo, the chief brand officer in Europe, leads best practices sharing sessions across her organization to drive the understanding and adoption of AI. Similarly, at Vodacom, marketing and communications leader Andisa Ntusbane was the first to sign up for his team’s new AI for marketers training, leading by example.

What would you tell a CMO who’s wondering what their next AI move should be?

Marc: Start playing around with the AI tools yourself! It’s the best way to really understand the potential here. We saw almost no difference between overperformers versus underperformers in terms of leaders using AI for professional efficiency (92% versus 88%). However, there is a bigger gap when it comes to “using AI for my personal well-being” (58% versus 41%). The leading CMOs I spoke with are setting up AI studios on their own laptops, playing around with it on the weekends, and just learning and having fun.

So what is your advice for the marketing leaders who are looking to learn from those winning CMOs and get the most out of AI?

Mariana: CMOs need to recognize and own the fact that they are uniquely positioned to drive humanized growth in the AI era. Human insights have always been their business. AI will help CMOs get the most from those insights, and those same human insights are needed to get the most from AI. It’s a virtuous cycle that leads to growth.

Marc: To achieve that growth, put people at the center of the process. Your teams, and especially you as the leader, need to be the central, animating force for AI-driven growth. AI transformation is not something that will happen to your organization, but it is something that you as the leader will drive, design, and champion for you and your people. That is humanized growth.