A recent Gartner report delivered a sobering wake-up call for the modern marketing department: By 2027, over 40% of CMOs who push for larger brand budgets will lose influence with the C-suite. The reason? An inability to demonstrate sufficient returns

For many in the industry, this isn’t a surprise; it’s an inevitability

For decades, "Brand" has been the last stronghold of the analogue marketer, a nebulous, unmeasurable bucket where money goes to hide behind the guise of "awareness" and "sentiment."

But the reality of the modern economy is simple: Nobody builds a lifelong loyalty to a hex code or a logo. We build relationships with people

The Fall of the Analogue Brand
The traditional approach to branding is often a one-way monologue. It’s a company shouting from a pedestal about its values, its heritage, and its vision. This worked in an era of limited media channels where whoever shouted loudest won

Today, that model is broken. The C-suite is no longer interested in "brand lift" metrics that don't correlate with revenue. When a CMO asks for a budget increase to fund a high-level brand campaign without a clear path to conversion, it signals a disconnect from the business's core objective: sustainable growth

The "analogue" marketer views the brand as an object to be polished; the digital-first leader views the brand as the sum total of every human interaction the company has

Relationships are the New Equity
Think about the services or products you are most loyal to. Is it because of a billboard, or is it because of a specific interaction you had with a knowledgeable representative? Is it a catchy slogan, or is it the consistent value provided by a thought leader in that space?

We remember how people make us feel. We remember the expert who solved our problem on LinkedIn, the salesperson who listened instead of pitching, and the customer success lead who went above and beyond

This is where Social Selling transforms from a buzzword into a critical business strategy

Social selling isn't about automated DM spam or aggressive tactics; it’s about empowering your team to show up as humans in digital spaces

It’s about building authority and rapport long before a contract is ever signed

When your people are the face of your company, the "brand" becomes a living, breathing entity rather than a static asset

Moving from Impression to Influence
To survive the shift Gartner predicts, marketing leaders must pivot from buying impressions to fostering influence. This requires a few key shifts:

Humanizing the Experts: Shift budget from generic corporate advertising to supporting your internal subject matter experts. Help them create content that builds trust

Measuring What Matters: Move beyond "likes" and look at how social engagement and relationship-building activities shorten sales cycles and increase customer lifetime value

Integrating Sales and Marketing: Stop treating brand and demand as separate silos. Every "brand" activity should facilitate a conversation, and every conversation should reinforce the brand

Conclusion
The era of the untouchable brand budget is over

The C-suite’s patience for "analogue" marketing, which prioritizes the ego of the logo over the reality of the customer relationship, has run out

CMOs who want to retain their seat at the table must stop hiding behind the ambiguity of "brand awareness" and start investing in the people who drive the business

By focusing on authentic connections and social selling, marketing can move away from being a cost centre and become what it was always meant to be: the ultimate engine for human-to-human growth