The Nordic CMO Survey

1

Table of contents Preface 03 About the survey 04 Key takeaways 07 The CMO perspective on 2025 09 CMOs in 2025 19 Artificial Intelligence 26 Inside how marketing teams prioritise 36 The Nordic CMOs 49 What do successful companies do? 57 Trends and expectations 70 What should CMOs

THE NORDIC CMO SURVEY 3.0 IS HERE! For the third year in a row; The Nordic CMO Survey is back. Packed with fresh data, it provides a gauge of what Nordic CMOs are thinking and doing, here and now. -Get up to date on the trends, priorities and tools that shape today's marketing! Many have wanted to s

About the survey 4 04

ABOUT THE SURVEY The Nordic CMO Survey is an online survey prepared by Synlighet in collaboration with the industry media Kampanje in Norway, Resumé in Sweden and Dansk Markedsføring. The survey was conducted for the first time in April 2023. 588 CMOs in the Nordics have responded on the survey A

W H O A R E T H E N O R D I C C M O S W H O R E S P O N D E D TO T H E S U R V E Y ? This years responses continue to come largely from companies with smaller marketing departments. 66% of marketing departments consist of 1 to 5 employees, while 34% are led by marketing managers with a team of 6 or

Key takeaways 07

K E Y TA K E A W AYS - T H E N O R D I C C M O S U R V E Y 2 0 2 5 Economic climate and strategic focus: Optimism has fallen, particularly in Sweden, despite only 14% of marketing managers reporting an actual decline. Rising costs and inflation are the main concerns, requiring more Expectations for

The CMO perspective on 2025 9 09

G R O W T H F O R M O ST CO M PA N I E S How would you rate the company's performance over the past year? Among the companies that participated in the survey, the picture is overwhelmingly positive. Almost half (47%) of the companies have experienced growth in the past year, while another four Sta

W A N I N G O PT I M I S M A R O U N D T H E N AT I O N A L E CO N O M Y Are you more or less optimistic about the national economy last year compared to this year? Although the results are generally good, optimism is waning. Ambivalent Optimistic Pessimistic 60 After increased optimism in 202

P E R S I ST E N T E CO N O M I C U N C E RTA I N T Y What challenges does your company expect to face over the next 6-12 months? 2025 Overall, the responses from Nordic marketing managers indicate an increasing focus on external economic factors. Not surprisingly, most people point to increased c

F E W A D J U ST M A R K E T I N G B U D G E TS TO M E E T C H A L L E N G E S The overall development in the Nordic countries suggests a How has your company's marketing budget changed over the last 12 months? more cautious and wait-and-see attitude towards marketing investments. The share of com

F E W E R D I F F E R E N C E S B E T W E E N I N D U ST R I E S A N D CO U N T R I E S Approximately what percentage of turnover does the marketing budget represent? Over half of those surveyed (55%) report that their marketing budget is 05% of turnover, while a further 21% allocate between 610%.

B 2 C P R I O R I T I Z E S V I S I B I L I T Y B 2 B I N V E STS I N R E L AT I O N S H I PS Media buying for B2C and large enterprises: A significantly larger share of the marketing budget is allocated to media buying and advertising for B2C companies (53%) and the largest enterprises (51%). This

I N V E STM E N TS R E M A I N M O ST LY T H E S A M E W I T H A F E W K E Y C H A N G E S What marketing investments has your company made to improve results over the past 12 months? Marketing investments are roughly the same as last year and the year before. 2025 2024 2023 Nordic marketing m

M A R K E T I N G D E PA RTM E N TS H A V E G R O W N B U T I S I T R E V E R S I N G N O W ? In the last three years, marketing departments in many companies have grown: 43% state that the department has become larger, while 38% respond that the size has remained unchanged. Only 19% have reduced t

For our marketing department, this means [the economic uncertainty that characterizes the market] that we are becoming even more precise and data-driven in our decisions. We focus on identifying the most effective channels and messages, and we are continuously working to optimize the ROI (return of

CMOs in 2025 19

T H E C M O H A S B E CO M E M O R E I M P O RTA N T How has your role in the organization changed over the last 3 years? 80 66% of CMOs say their role has become more important over the past 3 years, signaling a clear movement towards increased strategic influence and greater responsibility withi

CMOS ON HOW THEIR ROLE HAS CHANGED HOW HAS YOUR ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION CHANGED? AI ANALYSIS OF TEXT RESPONSES FROM 250 MARKETING MANAGERS. Increased strategic importance Sales and marketing have become closer The CMO role and marketing function have gained In many companies, sales and marketi

6 5% A R E PA RT O F T H E M A N A G E M E N T T E A M Are you part of the company's management team? (proportion of those who answered yes) Overall, 65% of the marketing managers surveyed report that they are part of the company's top management, but with significant differences between countries

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CMO What areas are you responsible for in your role as CMO? Select all that apply When we look at the overall responsibilities of marketing managers regardless of company size a few prioritized areas of expertise clearly emerge. Virtually all marketing managers are respo

R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S V A RY BY CO M PA N Y S I Z E What areas are you responsible for in your role as CMO? Select all that apply The marketing manager's responsibilities vary significantly depending on the size of the 1-20 21-200 201+ company. The only area of expertise that is compl

C M O S I N M A N A G E M E N T A R E I N V O LV E D I N B U S I N E S S D E V E LO PM E N T What areas are you responsible for in your role as CMO? Select all that apply There are clear differences in responsibilities between marketing managers who are Belongs to the management group part of the

Artificial Intelligence 26 26

CO N T I N U E D I N C R E A S E I N T H E U S E O F A I Has your company started using AI tools in its marketing activities? Yes The use of AI tools in marketing is still growing. The proportion using AI increased from 82% in 2024 to 88% in 2025. 80% 100 88 % 82 % 80 60 40 48 % 20 0 2023

S M A L L E R G A PS B E T W E E N I N D U ST R I E S A N D CO U N T R I E S Has your company started using AI tools in its marketing activities? There were larger differences between B2B and B2C companies two years ago, with more B2B companies (52%) using AI than B2C (43%). By 2025, usage has leve

T H E M A J O R I T Y U S E S A I T E C H N O LO GY D A I LY AI has become more firmly established in day-to-day marketing work: The proportion who say they use AI technology daily has increased from 66% in 2024 to 75% in 2025. This suggests that AI has increasingly become an integrated tool in mar

B I G A N D S M A L L CO M PA N I E S A P P R O A C H A I A B I T D I F F E R E N T LY Although the use of AI tools has become widespread in companies of all sizes, there are some differences in how the technology is being adopted. 87% Small businesses (1-20 employees) report the highest daily use

I N D I V I D U A L U S E O F A I D O M I N AT E S The use of AI is largely driven by individuals a full 43% state that AI is used on their own initiative as a personal aid. Only 14% respond that AI is integrated into work processes at the company's initiative, which indicates that there is still a

U S E O F A I I N M A R K E T I N G D E PA RTM E N TS What are you using AI for today? Text production dominates In 2025, AI is used primarily for text production (93%). There is also widespread use in the production of images, videos and graphics (44%), SEO (36%), creating campaign concepts and st

N OT E V E RY T H I N G T U R N E D O U T A S W E T H O U G H T - T H E U S E O F A I I N M A R K E T I N G What do you use AI for today? (2025) / In which areas do you think AI will be important? (2023/2024) In 2023 and 2024, we asked marketing managers in the Nordics about which areas they though

A I H A S L I T T L E I M PA C T O N T H E M A R K E T I N G B U D G E T The vast majority of companies (71%) report that the use of AI has not had a significant impact on their budget. More companies report that their budget has been reallocated to focus more on AI-related initiatives (12%) than th

Personally, I believe marketing is a growth engine, not just an expense. We have a good dialogue with management about what we actually contribute. We talk concretely and down to earth about our successes and contributions. The clearer you are on value creation, the greater the chance of avoiding cu

Inside how marketing teams prioritize 36

T H E M O ST CO M M O N C H A N N E L S I N T H E M A R K E T I N G M I X Which of these tactics/channels are you using today? Social media remains the channel that all Nordic marketing managers 2025 include in their marketing mix, at the same level as in 2024 (94%). Nearly 4 in 5 also use email m

B 2 B : E V E N TS A R E B E CO M I N G M O R E I M P O RTA N T Which of these tactics/channels are you using today? It is clear that physical events, such as trade shows and events, are B2B increasingly used by B2B companies. A full 75% state that this is part of the marketing mix compared to onl

B 2 C : D E C L I N E I N S E O I N V E STM E N T Which of these tactics/channels are you using today? B2C Physical events have also become more important for B2C companies, with an increase from 42% to a whopping 64% citing Social Media 95 this as part of their marketing mix. Note that the sel

B 2 B : W H I C H T E C H N O LO GY P L AT F O R M S A R E M O ST I M P O RTA N T If you were to rank the technology platforms by importance to your company's marketing on a scale of 1 10 The ranking of B2B technology platforms is relatively stable, and similar regardless of company size. The top

B 2 C : W H I C H T E C H N O LO GY P L AT F O R M S A R E M O ST I M P O RTA N T ? The ranking of technology platforms within B2C is also relatively stable, and independent of company size. However, If you were to rank the technology platforms by importance to your company's marketing on a scale o

ST R O N G O N B R A N D, W E A K E R O N D ATA How well do you feel that the marketing department delivers in the following areas? Many marketing departments find that they deliver well or very well in the core areas building and strengthening the brand as well as producing and distributing releva

4 OUT OF 5 USE AGENCIES FOR MARKETING Do you do marketing in-house, use an agency, or a combination? The most common approach for most companies is to solve marketing tasks in Other 2% collaboration with an agency. A full 73% use an agency for something. Everything ourselves 22% It is relativel

W H AT M A R K E T I N G T E A M S D O T H E M S E LV E S A N D W H AT I S O U TS O U R C E D? Tasks such as social media (66%) and PR and communications (58%) are handled mostly internally. Strategy work and brand platforms are also handled mainly internally or to some extent in combination with ag

G R O W I N G CO M PA N I E S W O R K W I T H A G E N C I E S How would you rate the company's performance over the past year? Companies that collaborate with agencies appear to have more success: 49% of them report growth in the past year, compared to 39% among businesses that do everything themse

AGENCIES MAKES BUSINESSES MORE VIGILANT How much do you agree with these statements? Percentage Strongly agree/agree We do everything ourselves Companies that use agencies have significantly greater control over their own marketing strategy and plans (75%), as well as set measurable marketing goal

I think we will see a continued evolution of in-house work, especially for tasks that are close to the business, or where a quick response to the market is required. External agencies will still have an important role as extended arms, regardless of the type of agency. I think we will also see more

The agencies have a lot of cutting-edge expertise and some tasks could certainly be better solved by specialists than we are able to do ourselves, but we must consider the cost versus benefit in each individual case. Many tasks are not large enough for us to justify bringing in external expertise.

The Nordic CMO 49 49

I N C R E A S E D CO STS A N D U N C E RTA I N T Y A R E A F F E C T I N G N O R D I C C M O S What challenges does your company expect to face over the next 6-12 months? Increased costs and inflation Nordic marketing managers expect a challenging landscape over the next 6-12 months. By far the big

S W E D I S H C M O S F E E L L E A ST U N D E R STO O D BY M A N A G E M E N T To what extent do you feel that management understands the effect of marketing?* To a great/very great extent In Denmark, 57% respond that management understands the impact of marketing to NORWAY SWEDEN DENMARK 56 %

LO W E ST M A R K E T I N G B U D G E T S H A R E I N N O R W AY S L A R G E ST CO M PA N I E S Across the Nordic countries, we can see that larger companies invest a lower proportion of their turnover in marketing. As companies grow, it seems that a larger proportion report spending a lower percen

N O R W E G I A N C M O S I N C R E A S E B U D G E T, B U T W I L L N OT H I R E The willingness to invest in the past year is still high among Norwegian companies, but it was higher last year at 45% vs. 37%. Denmark has a small increase in the share of companies that have increased their marketin

S W E D I S H C M O S H A V E STA RT E D W O R K I N G W I T H A G E N C I E S What marketing investments has your company made to improve results over the past 12 months? Collaboration with agencies Swedish marketing managers continue to invest the most in agency collaboration, and that investment

D A N I S H C M O S CO N T I N U E TO L E A D T H E W AY I N A I Here are some statements about the use of AI in marketing activities. Strongly agree/agree Danish marketing managers continue to lead the way with the highest use of AI technology in their daily marketing activities (84%). This share

T E X T P R O D U C T I O N D O M I N AT E S A I U S E I N T H E N O R D I C CO U N T R I E S What are you using AI for today? Across the Nordic countries, the use of AI for text production is very high and stable, with over 92% in all three countries. Danes stand out with the highest use of AI for

What do successful companies do? 57

T H I S I S H O W W E D E F I N E S U CC E S S F U L CO M PA N I E S In 2025, we have added a new factor in the assessment of successful companies: the companies have also experienced growth in the past year. In 2023 and 2024, we only looked at those who responded that they have largely achieved

S U CC E S S STA RTS AT T H E TO P Among growing companies, 60% respond that management understands the effect of marketing to a great or very great extent. Only 10% report low understanding among management. In declining companies, only 37% respond that they experience high market understanding amo

T H E S I Z E O F T H E M A R K E T I N G D E PA RTM E N T M AT T E R S Among the companies in the survey, growth is relatively evenly spread across large, medium, and small companies, with no significant differences. However, there is strong evidence that the resources available in the marketing de

ST R O N G M A R K E T I N G D E PA RTM E N TS S H O W H O W E V E RY T H I N G CO N N E C TS The companies that succeed have marketing departments that to a greater extent experience that they contribute to sales, engage systematically in content production, build the brand and, perhaps most import

T H O S E W H O S U CC E E D H A V E INCREASED THEIR MARKETING BUDGET SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES LESS SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES 52% of successful companies report increased budgets in the past 12 months. Increased budgets provide an opportunity to be more aggressive, 60 strengthen the brand, and create grow

Y E S , S P E N D I N G M O R E M O N E Y O N M A R K E T I N G Y I E L D S B E T T E R R E S U LTS The chart shows the percentage of companies reporting various changes in results after increasing or decreasing their marketing budget. Overall, 67% of companies that increased their budget reported t

I N V E STS I N M A N Y A R E A S AT T H E S A M E T I M E What marketing investments has your company made to improve results over the past 12 months? A key success factor is how a company prioritizes its marketing investment. There are some clear differences in the priorities between successful c

A BROAD PRESENCE ACROSS CHANNELS Social media and email marketing (newsletters, loyalty programs) are dominant in all types of businesses. Digital advertising and SEO are somewhat more common in successful companies, but are still widely used by most. The use of partnerships (sponsorships, influence

K N O W W H E R E T H E Y A R E G O I N G A N D W H AT T H E Y W A N T Successful companies know where they are going and what they want to achieve. This has been a clear trend in 2024 and 2023, when we only took perceived success into account, and continues to be clear when we consider the companie

T H O S E W H O S U CC E E D M E A S U R E E F F E C T How do you measure the effect of brand communication? Successful companies measure the effect of their marketing broadly and systematically. Successful companies measure effect across multiple methodologies to a greater extent. A full 84% measu

C LO S E CO L L A B O R AT I O N B E T W E E N SALES AND MARKETING SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES LESS SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES HOW WELL DO SALES AND MARKETING WORK TOGETHER IN YOUR COMPANY? A key factor for success in 2023, 2024 and still in 2025 is close collaboration between sales and marketing. 80% of su

A bigger budget doesn't automatically yield better results. The level of investment matters, but how the money is spent is just as important what message is conveyed, how the brand is positioned, and how effectively it is communicated in relevant channels. Yiannis Evdokiadis Marketing Director at

Trends and expectations 70

T H E C M O O F T H E F U T U R E T H I S I S H O W T H E Y S E E T H E M S E LV E S The CMOs themselves describe a rapidly changing role, driven by new market demands and deeper integration into the companys core business. The key trends and predictions that emerge from their own experiences are:

M A N Y A R E H E S I TA N T TO I N V E ST The budget development from 2023 to 2025 paints a picture of a marketing How do you expect the marketing budget in your company to change over the next 12 months? landscape characterized by both growth and large differences. Will increase 38% Remains unc

F E W E R P L A N TO H I R E - E S P E C I A L LY S M A L L A N D M E D I U M -S I Z E D B U S I N E S S E S From 2023 to 2025, we see a clear decrease in the share of respondents who answer Yes to the fact that they plan to hire more people in the marketing department in the coming year - from 43%

I M P O RTA N T C H A N N E L S G O I N G F O R W A R D CMOs believe that the marketing mix in 3 years will still be dominated by digital Which of these tactics/channels do you think will be an important part of your marketing mix in 3 years? Use today Important in 3 years channels. Social media

M A R K E T I N G A U TO M AT I O N I S B E CO M I N G I M P O RTA N T B U T W H E N W I L L I T B E A D O PT E D? Which of these tactics/channels do you think will be an important part of your marketing mix in 3 years? Using marketing automation Marketing automation is quickly becoming a must-h

F U T U R E I N V E STM E N TS : B R A N D A N D T E C H N O LO GY Future marketing investments appear to prioritize a balance between branding Which of these tactics/channels do you think will be an important part of your marketing mix in 3 years? New creative concepts and campaigns and results-

TO M O R R O W S M A R K E T E R W O R K S ST R AT E G I C A L LY W I T H A I AI has become a key part of the future of marketing. It has already been widely adopted, What do you use AI for today? (2025) / In which areas do you think AI will be important? (2023/2024) 2025 use especially for text

What should CMOs prioritize now? 78

A V O I D L E T T I N G I N S I G H TS B E CO M E A N U N U S E D R E S O U R C E Last year, we talked about the importance of spotting new competitors early. This year, we see that the battle for market share has not become any easier but many have stopped paying close attention. Continued concern

M A N Y K N O W W H AT TO D O, B U T FA C E O BSTA C L E S Most marketing managers know what it takes. However, many face obstacles that are not necessarily in the job description, but are just as important to address. Last year's optimism, especially the Swedish one, has been noticeably dampened in