78% CMOs believe AI will never replace human imagination: Report

Two-thirds of chief marketing officers (CMOs) worldwide say they will allocate more than 20% of their budgets to social and influencer marketing in 2025, according to Dentsu Creative’s latest global CMO Report.

The study, based on insights from 1,950 senior marketing leaders across 14 markets, highlights how marketers are reshaping strategies around artificial intelligence, cultural relevance, and creator partnerships.

The report notes that 39% of CMOs plan to invest 20-30% of their budgets in influencer and social marketing, while 27% expect to allocate more than 30%. Nearly 90% of respondents believe that social and influencer content generates more engagement than traditional advertising, while 89% say relatable creators drive better performance than celebrities.

Artificial intelligence has become routine in marketing workflows. Almost every CMO surveyed uses AI, with over 30% using it daily for tasks like drafting copy and identifying trends. At the same time, 78% of CMOs agree that generative AI will never replace human imagination, up 13 percentage points from 65% in 2024.

Trust and taste are expected to become critical in the next phase of AI adoption. 89% of CMOs believe Agentic AI will significantly impact their business, but the same proportion stressed that trust and brand preference will matter more than ever.

Innovation is also a major area of investment. 70% of CMOs plan to allocate over 20% of their budgets to innovation in 2025, compared to 59% in 2024. About 90% of marketers want innovation directed at urgent business challenges, and 47% say innovation led by marketing can impact the entire business.

Content production at scale remains a challenge. 90% of CMOs want to combine agile production with intelligent data to deliver the right message at the right moment, yet 76% say producing enough assets limits personalisation.

The report also shows how algorithms are shaping marketing. 71% of CMOs said “If I don’t win with the algorithm, I will be invisible,” but 79% warned that optimising too closely risks creating a “sea of sameness.” To counter this, 84% of CMOs said they must win share of culture, not just share of voice.

Abbey Klaassen, Global Brand President,DentsuCreative, said, “The future of marketing is about augmenting human ingenuity with AI to enable a level of pace and personalization not previously possible. It’s not about doing more with less; it’s about doing things we couldn’t do before: connecting creativity, media, data and production to meet the right customer with the right message in the right moment, leveraging the modern content supply chain to show up in more of those moments than was possible in the past. What we hear from our clients, and the report bears that out, is that they need seamless integration of data, AI-enabled production and their existing martech stack to realise the potential of real-time creativity to accelerate growth.”

Yasu Sasaki, Global Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu,added, “What we clearly see in this report is that while clients are embracing AI at pace, they remain committed to the power of human craft and creativity. As we adopt AI at scale, it places an ever-greater premium on originality and innovation: AI is exceptionally good at prediction, but creativity by its very nature is unpredictable.  What is most exciting is when AI and human creativity come together to unlock new possibilities, spot new patterns and shape new futures. That’s why we see clients committing to invest more than ever in innovation in 2026 and beyond.” 

Patricia McDonald, Global Chief Strategy Officer,DentsuCreative, commented, “Today’s marketers face an extraordinary series of paradoxes and contradictions. Automation is vital to keep up; humanity is vital to stand out. They must win with the algorithm or be invisible, but optimise too closely and they become indistinguishable. If every brand chases the same signals with the same tools, we are simply running harder to stand still. The result is that the more we embrace AI, the more human we must become; unearthing the deeply personal truths, grounded in culture, that resonate, differentiate and scale.”

Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative & Media Brands, South Asia, dentsu said, “Algorithms may shape what we see, but it is imagination, empathy and culture that shape what we remember. In India’s dynamic landscape, true success will come to brands that out-human the algorithm, fusing AI with creativity, data with intimacy, and innovation with cultural trust. Those who dare to co-create authentically and build experiences rooted in trust will not only grow their brands but also shape the future of society.”