Why thought leaders must abandon the old playbook
I sat across from a brilliant CEO last month who told me she was “being bold” with her marketing budget. When I asked what that meant, she said they’d increased their ad spend by 15%. But when I dug deeper, I discovered something unsettling: they were still measuring success the same way they had five years ago, making decisions at the same glacial pace, and expecting their marketing team to deliver overnight results with outdated tools.
This isn’t audacity. This is hope dressed up in a bigger budget.
The truth? These days, the biggest risk isn’t taking a bold chance on new marketing strategies. It’s clinging to what worked in 2020 and expecting different results. Thought leaders who truly thrive are the ones willing to fundamentally rethink how marketing works in an AI-driven, digitally accelerated world.
According to Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend Survey, marketing budgets represented 7.7% of company revenue in 2024, down from 9.1% in 2023 – the lowest level since the pandemic. This signals not a lack of investment, but a recalibration of priorities. Many organisations are still struggling to translate spending into growth, not because they invest too little, but because they invest in the wrong areas.
I’ve watched companies pour six figures into paid advertising campaigns designed for quick conversions, then wonder why their brand feels invisible when they pause spending. Meanwhile, they allocate little to long-term brand storytelling, thought leadership, or experimentation with emerging AI tools that could transform productivity.
The audacious move? Flip the script.
1. What if you devoted a meaningful portion of your marketing budget to brand building and thought leadership, even when you can’t draw a straight line to revenue?
2. What if you gave your team permission to test AI-powered tools that might fail, but could also dramatically improve efficiency?
The companies winning right now aren’t just spending more. They’re spending smarter, with the courage to invest in ideas that build brand equity over time.
Remember when marketing plans were annual and reviewed quarterly? Those days ended somewhere between the pandemic and the rise of AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT.
McKinsey & Company has noted that leading marketing teams now operate in agile sprint cycles, often testing and refining campaigns every two weeks rather than every quarter. These teams aren’t reckless; they’re responsive, learning and adjusting in real time to changing customer behaviour.
In an AI-accelerated world, slow decisions are wrong decisions. Not because speed equals quality, but because the market moves whether you’re ready or not.
This requires a mindset shift: thought leaders must embrace what could be called “confident uncertainty” – the ability to make informed decisions quickly, knowing you’ll adjust as you learn. It means approving that podcast series, LinkedIn video experiment, or AI content pilot without demanding a guaranteed ROI forecast first.
Here’s where many leaders stumble: they hire talented marketers, then set them up to fail by asking for the impossible.
– You can’t ask one campaign to build brand awareness and drive immediate sales.
– You can’t demand “viral” content while enforcing approval layers that crush authenticity.
– And you can’t expect your team to compete with brands that have ten times your budget unless you’re willing to compete differently.
According to the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, brands grow primarily through mental availability; being easily remembered and considered when buyers are ready to purchase. Yet, many organisations still allocate most of their budgets to capturing short-term demand instead of building long-term brand recognition and trust.
Think about it: when was the last time you bought from a brand you’d never heard of? Probably never. You purchased from brands that showed up consistently, built credibility, and earned your trust long before you needed them.
Brand awareness is your secret weapon. It’s what allows you to charge premium prices, attract top talent, and weather competition. But it requires patience and investment in marketing that might not “convert” for months – or even years.
Finally, the most successful teams don’t just act boldly, they learn quickly. McKinsey & Company and Boston Consulting Group have both found that organisations embracing a test-and-learn culture adapt faster and achieve stronger performance than those relying on rigid approval structures. Continuous experimentation, rapid feedback loops, and learning from small failures are what drive growth in modern marketing.
As we head into a new year, audit your marketing mindset, not just your budget. The audacious move for 2025 isn’t doubling your spend. It’s fundamentally rethinking how you approach marketing in a digital world where adaptability outperforms perfection.
The leaders who will thrive aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones with the courage to experiment intelligently, learn relentlessly, and invest in building brands that truly matter.
That’s the kind of audacity that changes the game.
Name: Celeste Lustosa
Professional Title: Marketing Strategist
Bio: Celeste Lustosa, CEO of Lustosa Marketing, has spent two decades turning business chaos into competitive advantage. From advising Brazilian government ministers to rescuing bleeding brands, she’s driven 50% revenue increases and 600% media growth across 50+ transformations. Her secret weapon? Empathy-driven campaigns that combine crisis management grit with globally-informed insight.
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