A recent Forbes YouTube special filmed at the Forbes CMO Summit in Aspen gathered more than 20 chief marketing officers and marketing leaders and asked two simple questions that every CEO ought to hear. The setting was predictably elite—Aspen is where corporate marketing’s highest-paid minds go to mingle—but the answers weren’t all fluff. Hardworking Americans deserve marketing that sells products and supports real jobs, not boardroom virtue signaling or performative campaigns.
Time and again the marketers pushed the same theme: modern marketing has to be about measurable business outcomes and must be able to speak the language of the C-suite—wallet share, retention, CAC versus LTV—not just likes and impressions. That push to tie messaging to revenue and operational metrics is exactly what smart companies need if they care about profitability and shareholder value.
You’ll also hear a chorus about AI and automation: the era of endless experimentation is over and marketing leaders say they’re moving from pilots into execution at scale. That’s not inherently bad; harnessing data and smarter tools can lower costs and sharpen offers, but it also brings risk when executives worship the next shiny thing without demanding clear ROI.
What was striking—and worrying—was how often old-school vanity metrics were still trotted out as accomplishments by some. Conservatives have long warned that metrics which flatter marketing departments but don’t move the revenue needle are a recipe for bloated budgets and weak accountability. The new playbook being advocated at these summits pushes against that, insisting on short-term proof while building long-term capability.
If a CEO honestly doesn’t understand marketing, the first lesson from these CMOs is simple: demand numbers, require pilots tied to revenue, and make marketers earn their budgets by moving business levers. That kind of accountability is the backbone of capitalism and the only way to ensure marketing serves customers rather than ideologues. Leaders who confuse marketing as moral theater are doing a disservice to employees and investors alike.
We should be clear-eyed about AI too: industry reports show rapid adoption across marketing functions, but adoption without guardrails invites mistakes, wasted spend, and job displacement without value. Conservatives should welcome innovation that increases productivity, but call out the overhyped techno-utopian thinking that treats algorithms as a substitute for human judgment and common sense. Markets, not conference buzz, should determine what survives.
At the end of the day, marketing’s purpose is simple—deliver value to paying customers, grow responsibly, and make companies more competitive. That’s a message the Aspen cocktail circuit likes to forget, but it’s what makes American businesses strong and working families secure. CEOs who insist on clear metrics, fiscal discipline, and a customer-first mindset will get marketing that actually works for Main Street, not just for the elites on a mountaintop.
