---
title: "The CMO role is evolving before our very eyes"
url: https://adtech.lol/articles/7ca84ee7-9843-4d53-ac21-1d96d78fb968
source_url: https://martech.org/the-cmo-role-is-evolving-before-our-very-eyes/
source_site: martech
author: "Mike Pastore"
published: 2026-10-14T00:00:00+00:00
tags: ["CMO", "Marketing", "Branding", "Leadership", "AI"]
publisher: AdTech Radar
---

# The CMO role is evolving before our very eyes

> As brands that eliminate the CMO role gain attention in marketing circles, it's time to ask if it's more evolution than revolution.

## The CMO role is evolving before our very eyes

Is the CMO role truly dying, or are modern marketers just setting themselves up for failure?

In this episode of Conversations with MarTech, we sit down with Kyle Lacy, CMO at Docebo, to break down the real reasons major brands are eliminating executive marketing positions.

Kyle exposes the biggest traps holding modern marketers back — from over-indexing on pipeline numbers to letting AI replace human connection — and outlines what it actually takes to build a brand that is impossible to ignore.

## Key takeaways

- **The production house trap:** Why viewing marketing strictly as a content assembly line makes your role easily replaceable by AI tools.
- **The risk of short-term thinking:** What really happens to pipeline 12 months after a company absorbs marketing under sales.
- **Human-centric storytelling:** Why brand story is your only true competitive edge in an AI-driven market.
- **The flaw of attribution:** Why using attribution models as “absolute truth” kills creative team innovation.

## Episode guide

00:00 Introduction  
00:31 Meet Kyle Lacy  
01:47 A high-level take on what’s happened to the CMO role  
03:18 Are B2B or tech companies more likely to eliminate the CMO role?  
04:52 “We did this to ourselves.”  
07:27 What is the risk you face when you eliminate the CMO?  
10:26 Are more technical-minded CMOs better prepared for the future?  
14:17 What’s the difference between product and brand for today’s B2B orgs?  
16:20 What’s the biggest lie marketing tells itself?  
18:30 “If you want to kill creatives, tell them they have a pipeline goal to hit.”

Source: [https://martech.org/the-cmo-role-is-evolving-before-our-very-eyes/](https://martech.org/the-cmo-role-is-evolving-before-our-very-eyes/)