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The CMO during a Trump presidency in 2025 will not be the same as it was in 2017. It is unlikely that CMOs will be seen touting marketing as a force for good, or announcing that they are taking funding from the platform, or taking any actions that could be perceived as overtly political . (Though, arguably, this could be seen as its own political move.) This time around, while it will of course vary from one CMO to another, it seems that CMOs will generally focus on getting back to the basics of marketing. and they focus on their own customers rather than making any big statements.
“The CMO’s primary job is to protect the company’s brand assets,” said Allen Adamson, brand consultant and co-founder of consulting firm Metaforce. “This job is becoming more difficult as connecting with consumers becomes harder, more complicated and more complex. It’s even more complicated because the country is also incredibly polarized and fragmented, so a one-size-fits-all approach no longer works.”
“CMOs will serve consumers,” said Stephanie Hanley, brand director at advertising agency EP+Co. “It’s going to go back to consumer obsession.” Talk to them. Innovative for them. Encourage them to co-create for the brand community, not just for the platform or brand. CMOs will use their scrappy mentality to find new channels to build relationships with consumers and look more closely across the entire journey to find places of impact that may have been overlooked over the past five years.”
Because this is the case, marketers are once again spending time on their brand’s purpose—not to figure out how to make a point like they did in the past—but to understand how they should be speaking to their customers now.
“CMO, especially at the enterprise level, has really new challenges,” such as the changing media and political environment, among other “disruptive factors in the business” that make CMOs not currently in a “very empowered position,” said Dory Ellis Garfinkle, marketing director of the consulting company Siegel+Gale. The firm works with brands on brand goals and branding initiatives to help them meet these challenges.
Marketers will, in a sense, continue to go back to basics, going into this new Trump administration to find ways to reconnect with customers and avoid polarization. While it could be seen as a move of fear — out of concern that brands might get caught up in something harmful and act accordingly — some see it as a move that could ultimately help marketers find their way back to meaningful work.
Recently, marketers have taken an ongoing approach that requires brands to sell successfully on major platforms. This has led to “a sea of sameness as all our lives are influenced by technology-driven algorithms,” said Leila Fataar, founder of creative marketing and communications company Platform13.
“Relying so heavily on the scale and efficiency of online platforms to create continuous content has sacrificed the creativity and cultural nuance needed to build lasting brands,” Fataar said. “It’s time for CMOs to stop playing by Big Tech’s rules and start creating new ones based on the principles of cultural relevance, creativity and authenticity. While the tools have changed, the role of the CMO has not. Those who do so can reclaim their power beyond media intermediaries and become builders of meaningful relationships with audiences.”
Fataar is not alone in her assessment that zeroing in on cultural relevance as a top metric over mastering the latest trend on a social platform will help brands in the long run.
“We all know the old adland is dead, but the art of branding is definitely alive and will be for some time,” said James Kirkham, CEO of brand consultancy Iconic.
Kirkham said that instead of focusing on the details of the latest changes in technology platforms and how best to respond to them, he sees the potential for marketers to return to the big ideas that will help them really resonate with their customers.
“For a long time, we needed to stop thinking about advertising because we’re releasing this thing on the latest technology platform and start thinking about it as moments that we’re bringing people into,” Kirkham said. “So the best CMOs stopped interrupting what people were already interested in and created work with a brand that became what they were interested in.”
“Like the filmmakers, artists, writers, writers of the Netflix series – it’s an experience you want to find, discover, consume and share like any of the best entertainment,” he continued. “Regardless of the Meta, X, or any other major technological shift and influence of the new president. Most of the best recognize that culturally relevant work is a must, not a treat, and in this seismic shift in AI, the only remaining advantage humans have is emotional storytelling.”
“As brand people, we need to promote cultural relevance,” said Fataar.