NEW YORK, NY (Dec. 17, 2025) -- Two of the advertising and marketing industry’s powerhouse providers of content and community are joining forces to create and deliver strategic insights, research and face-to-face relationship-building and problem-solving opportunities for global marketers in 2026.

The joint thought leadership initiative teams the CMO Council, a global executive affinity network of 16,500 decision makers in 10,000 companies worldwide, with a leading marketing intelligence hub connecting a global portfolio of seven specialized media brands reaching 1.6 million marketing professionals. CMO Council members across 110 countries collectively control nearly $1 trillion in annual, aggregated marketing spend. The CMO Council was founded in 2001 and marks its 25^th Anniversary in 2026.

“We’ve long admired the CMO Council for the quality of the work they’ve done around the world to provide insights and peer-to-peer problem solving to their members,” noted Chief Marketer Network president Kerry Smith. “We are excited to bring CMO insights to our Chief Marketer Network community, and also to provide CMO Council members with deeper insights into the functional areas that are driving rapid change to their marketing strategies.”

“This is a great fit that brings precision reach into the Office of the CMO combined with targeted and efficient functional leader engagement through dedicated media channels, events, online communities and virtual engagements,” adds Donovan Neale-May, founder and executive director of the CMO Council, which has been advocating and advancing the CMO title and territory since 2001.

Beginning in 2026, the CMO Council and the Chief Marketer Network will collaborate on new thought leadership initiatives with individual sponsor support to address some of the most pressing issues facing global marketing leaders.

Strategic areas of advocacy and exploration will include:

• BRAND VALUE CREATION FROM DIGITAL MARKETING TRANSFORMATION: How AI-Infused Data Decisioning is Impacting Revenue, Efficiency & Campaign Outcomes


• IMPROVE EVERY GO-TO-MARKET MOVE: Intent-based Insight and Adaptive Planning to Uplift Global Marketing Execution


• SPEND ALLOCATION TO DRIVE CUSTOMER ACTIVATION: Realizing Higher Conversion from Experiential, Engagement and Influencer Marketing


• DELIVERING ON THE EXCEPTIONAL, PREDICTIVE EXPERIENCE: Combining Real-Time, Hyper-Personal Intelligence with AI-Infused Chat Commerce


• INNOVATION WITHOUT LIMITATION: Improving Creative Range, Excellence and Impact in a Digital World


• TRAIN FOR DIGITAL MARKETING GAIN: Charting a New Course to Grow the Digital Marketing Workforce


• BRINGING PRECISION TO EVERY BRAND SPEND DECISION: Measurement Practices to Drive Accountability, Transparency and Performance Across the Marketing, Media and Agency Supply Chain

The CMO Council and CMN will support these initiatives with the full suite of unique resources that each partner brings to the relationship, creating unprecedented depth and scale and the highest quality content and engagement opportunities for consumers of the content, as well as sponsors who sign on to support and participate in these initiatives.

About The Chief Marketer Network

The Chief Marketer Network (CMN), a division of Access Intelligence, LLC, is a leading marketing intelligence hub connecting a global portfolio of seven specialized media brands serving the primary channels of media and marketing, ranging from advertising technology to experiential marketing to PR/Communications. With an aggregate audience of 1.6 million marketing professionals, CMN delivers curated insights, trend forecasting, and cross-disciplinary coverage that empowers marketers to stay ahead of what’s next. CMN brands include AdExchanger, Event Marketer, Chief Marketer, PRNEWS, LeadsCon, AdMonsters, Cynopsis, and Cablefax. https://www.chiefmarketer.com/

About The Chief Marketing Officer Council

Marking its 25^th Anniversary in 2026, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 16,000+ members control more than $1 trillion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 65,000 global marketing and sales executives in over 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council’s strategic interest groups include the Customer Experience Board, Digital Marketing Performance Center, Brand Inspiration Center, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, GeoBranding Center, and the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE). To learn more, visit https://www.cmocouncil.org.

Contact:

Kevin Sugarman - CMO Council

ksugarman@cmocouncil.org