Plus: Meet The 2025 Forbes Top Creators |
| As life becomes more digital and digital becomes more personalized, marketers say they just need more. A global study of marketers from Adobe released this week at Cannes Lions says the demand for content is through the roof, with 62% saying it’s gone up by a measure of at least five times over the last two years. And 71% of marketers expect that demand to increase fivefold again by 2027. The skyrocketing demand comes from broadening customer expectations facilitated by advances in technology. More than 6 in 10 marketers say that customers now expect more personalized interactions with brands. About 46% find that customers now want more audio and video content, while 44% are creating content to enhance a hybrid customer experience—in which a customer interacts with the brand both virtually and in person. And 62% say that customers now expect new content at least weekly. That adds up to a ton of content, literally. Seven in 10 marketers say their organization creates at least 1,000 assets per year, with nearly a quarter of marketing teams churning out between 10,000 and 100,000 assets annually. Current production workflows make that level of work challenging. Adobe found that nearly half of all marketing teams’ workflows involve between 51 and 200 people to create, review, approve and activate each piece of content, and nearly 90% have at least three approval stages before assets can be published. The long approval process makes 36% of marketers struggle to find the time for content creation and ideation. Generative AI can now help marketers with some of that content creation. Over half use the technology in multiple parts of their production process, and 84% plan to use it in the next year. This can certainly help teams meet the flywheel of demand, but administrative processes also need to be addressed. If the creative process speeds up, approval to use content also needs to be faster. As it stands now, 58% of marketers told Adobe that 41% of content creation time—roughly 25 minutes of every hour—is spent on administration, reviews and approvals.
If you like what you read here, you can easily share it online and on your social media pages. This newsletter, and all previous editions of Forbes CMO, can be found on our website here. |
|
| In today’s CMO newsletter: |
|
| Much of the marketing world is at Cannes Lions this week, sharing the creative wins, new technologies and challenges facing the industry. WPP Media’s midyear report shows that there is a lot for the industry to figure out, Forbes contributor Howard Homonoff writes. Total ad revenue growth for 2025 is projected to be 6%, down from the predicted 7.7% at the beginning of the year. The downgrade extends to revenues for the next several years as well, largely owing to the unstable economy. Digital advertising continues to dominate, representing 81.6% of all revenue when including streaming TV, digital out-of-home and digital print. Creator-driven ad revenue is projected to reach nearly $185 billion this year, for the first time surpassing projected revenues for traditional and streaming TV ($162 billion). WPP projects digital revenue will take a more than 87% share of all that comes from marketing by 2030. WPP says search ad revenue, called “Intelligence Advertising,” is set to grow 7.4% this year. However, that includes generative AI search—and many of the bots and engines people use don’t offer advertising just yet. |
|
| Walmart has a new AI-powered shopping assistant that will be able to do much more than just help customers select products that fit their needs. Forbes contributor Ron Schmelzer writes that Sparky—the assistant personified by Walmart’s trademark yellow smiley face—now can do what many AI-powered shopping assistants do: suggest products, summarize reviews and answer a few real-world questions—like which sports teams are currently playing. In coming months, Walmart plans to add features that go several steps beyond basic: reordering and scheduling services, a feature that can take a photo or video and give a sort of “how-to” guide for tasks—like “How do I fix this dripping faucet?” or “How can I make lunch out of these products?” It will essentially become a shopping agent, Schmelzer writes, turning shopping “from a search problem into a service experience.” If you’re planning a cookout, Sparky will present you with grills, check the weather, suggest menus and schedule for the items to be delivered. It makes sense for Walmart to add these capabilities. According to the retailer’s surveys, nearly 7 in 10 customers say quick solutions are the top reason they’d use AI in retail, and 27% now trust AI for shopping advice. Nearly half would be okay with AI reordering household staples, but the same amount said they’re unlikely to ever fully hand over control of their shopping to a bot. Sparky combines these two desires: automatic reordering of commonly used items, advice on others. And with such a wealth of information available on Walmart’s app, it may also inspire people to begin their shopping on the app itself instead of bypassing it for recommendations provided by an AI-powered search engine. |
|
| A generation ago, the way Americans found out something new—from the latest details of presidential scandals to who killed Laura Palmer—was by watching live TV broadcasts. Today, live TV is increasingly turned off, writes Forbes senior contributor Toni Fitzgerald. A new study from consumer research firm Attest finds that 28% of Americans don’t watch traditional broadcast TV in an average day, a number that has been rising year-over-year. Traditional TV viewership has especially been decreasing among younger viewers. More than two out of five Gen Zers say they don’t typically watch traditional TV, while 27% of adults between 31 and 49 and 20% of those over 50 say the same. However, people are still watching something on their TVs. Attest found that 86% of people watch it daily through streaming services. |
|
 | | Influencers Adam W, Xandra and Wisdom Kaye. Cody Pickens for Forbes |
|
| | | |
|
|
| The creator economy continues to grow and thrive. Forbes ranked the 50 richest creators across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, finding they earned an estimated $853 million this year—not counting equity deals for partnering with consumer brands. Honorees on this year’s list have a combined 3.4 billion followers, up 24% from last year’s total. Leading the pack is Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, who is the most followed person on social media. His earnings in the last year are estimated at $85 million, and the YouTube star has expanded beyond digital platforms with candy brand Feastables, fast food chain MrBeast Burger, and his Amazon Prime game show Beast Games. YouTube producer Dhar Mann, who has established his own Hollywood studio with teams of hundreds to create modern back-to-school specials, ranks second on the list. The ranking also includes Adam Waheed, known online as comedian Adam W, who pulls in more than 1 billion views on social platforms each month. Forbes’ Steven Bertoni talked to Waheed about his social brand: sketch videos that are an exaggerated take on everyday life, often using high-quality cinematography and complex props. He definitely approaches the creator life as a full-time job, starting at 9 a.m. and posting a sketch every other day by 2:30 p.m. “You can get 10 million views on a video, and the next day, someone else is getting 100 million views. You must continue putting up those numbers,” Waheed told Bertoni. “When my back’s against the wall is when I thrive.” |
|
|
Footwear brand Dr. Martens appointed Carla Murphy as its new chief brand officer, effective July 1. Murphy joins the company from Adidas, where she worked as global senior vice president and general manager for Adidas Outdoor since 2020.
|
|
At-home exercise firm Peloton selected Megan Imbres as chief marketing officer, effective July 7. Imbres most recently worked as managing director of Apple Marcom LA, and she is also a passionate cyclist and competitive triathlete.
|
|
| Send us C-suite transition news at forbescsuite@forbes.com. |
|
| Every marketing job comes with some busywork, which can be a creativity killer. But AI can take care of a lot of those tasks. Here are seven ways to use it to free up your mind for the type of work you prefer to do. While all of your customer reviews may not be positive, they provide windows into customers’ mindsets, as well as opportunities to deliver better customer service and improve your company’s processes. Here’s how to turn bad reviews around. |
|
| | Weigel Broadcasting Co. is launching its next specialty TV network. What kinds of programs will it show? | | A. | Documentaries | | B. | Talk shows from years past | | C. | Reality shows from years past | | D. | Westerns |
| | Check if you got it right here. |
|
|
