The Modern CMO Playbook—how AI and DEI are driving long-term business success

In today’s fast-changing, location-agnostic business environment, culture building can feel like a particular challenge. By using advancements in artificial intelligence and applying social awareness lessons from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, members of The List argue, companies can begin to future-proof their business across talent acquisition, cross-functional collaboration and customer engagement using “culture” as a tool. For the sixth year of The List, Ad Age and our partners at Meta brought together a collective of marketing and advertising leaders to examine the most pressing issues confronting the industry and to propose potential solutions. In this first article from The List 2024’s edition of “The Modern CMO Playbook,” members discuss innovative approaches for building an adaptive culture that aligns corporate goals with employee well-being and redefines customer engagement using AI-driven insights. (On Monday, Oct. 7, List members Jenna Berg, Marissa Nance, Suzanne Powers and Kwame Taylor-Hayford joined the panel “Behind the CMO Curtain: Building Communities and Cultivating Ecosystems,” moderated by Ad Age Studio 30 Editor John Dioso, in The Female Quotient’s Advertising Week New York Equality Lounge to discuss takeaways from this article. See video below.) Culture encompasses the shared practices, values and behaviors of a group of people. In the commercial world, culture is split into two experiences: organizational and consumer. Organizational culture is a concept that links company success to customer and employee empowerment, while consumer culture examines how consumption patterns shape identities and social structures in modern societies. As businesses transition from the digital content boom and pandemic-related economic changes into an AI-driven shift in how people live, work and consume, marketing and advertising leaders must adopt new approaches to shape the future of the marketing and advertising industry’s relationship to culture. This involves standardizing team-building processes, defining organizational culture and moving from customer communities to customer ecosystems. Standardizing team building for the future The need for standardized team-building strategies is critical for the future of hiring, retention and talent development. Passion is a key driver of creativity and innovation, according to List member Jenna Berg, VP of brand marketing for G6 Hospitality, the parent company of Motel 6 and Studio 6. “Technical skills can be trained, but those fueled by an enthusiasm for new ideas and creative solutions are instrumental in fostering a collaborative culture,” Berg said. “Brands should stay flexible and open-minded when evaluating candidates, recognizing that some may offer unexpected but valuable skills, even if they don’t meet all initial criteria.” To accomplish this, companies should focus on inclusive job descriptions that reflect DEI commitments, blind recruitment to reduce bias and structured interview processes, advocates argue. This approach leads to a more diverse talent pipeline: Gender-neutral job posts attract 42% more applicants, but studies show that just 20% of HR practitioners use blind hiring, even though 60% are aware of the practice. Retention remains a crucial goal once candidates become employees. Companies can improve retention by up to 72% by implementing mentorship programs, inclusive leadership training and transparent career paths. AI can assist in unbiased talent acquisition and retention by using applicant tracking systems (ATS) that focus on relevant skills and qualifications while ignoring bias-laden factors like gender or employment gaps. AI can also help standardize interviews, track employee data and detect trends related to bias in performance reviews and promotions. Beyond that, AI-powered tools can also identify employees at risk of leaving, allowing companies to offer personalized development and retention strategies. “Culture has become even more important after the pandemic, as many people no longer spend all their time in the office,” said List member Helga Sásdi, former CEO of Publicis Groupe Hungary and chair of the board at WeAreOpen. “Without a strong company culture and clear values, attracting new talent and retaining existing employees will continue to be a significant challenge.” Another significant obstacle to having a cohesive company culture is that it is not unusual to have four distinct generations—boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z—working together simultaneously within companies. “Without the shared experience of being physically present, and without a cohesive cultural understanding, the efficiency, creativity and output of these diverse teams may suffer,” Sásdi said. “On the other hand, imagine a multigenerational team that understands one another and is empowered to bring out the best in each other—when that happens, the sky’s the limit for creativity, problem-solving and innovation.” Defining and mobilizing organizational culture Many companies have long tried to create a “family” atmosphere, but the reality is that corporate priorities come first. Modern employees, 40% of whom have been laid off during their career, no longer expect family-like commitment from their employers. Instead, they seek work environments that resonate with their personal values and offer meaningful collaboration. This shift offers organizational leaders the chance to connect employee morale with business performance by investing in employer branding. List member Suzanne Powers, founder and CEO of PowersCreativity, has made it her firm’s business to diagnose the conditions needed to help creativity thrive within an organization. She believes AI can enhance and mobilize organizational culture, as long as humanity remains at the core. “In terms of culture creation for our own employees and for our clients, we’re careful about when we use AI versus human expertise,” Powers said. “It depends on the business or sector they are in and the level of complexity, size and even maturity they’re navigating, but being very intentional about where AI helps streamline processes to ‘liberate’ people in the ecosystem for creativity is where the science and magic meet.” List member Emily Doskow, former chief marketing officer at Leo Burnett, noted that while consolidation at media, tech and production holding companies has the potential to increase speed and agility when paired with greater AI use, it often sidelines creativity in favor of efficiency. “When it comes to creative agencies, we must be careful not to strip out the unique cultures and environments that nurture great creative work,” Doskow said. “Each agency brings their own vibe, personality and values to the table, and this couldn’t be more important to the kind of work they do. Their business is ideas, and talent is their greatest resource, so it’s crucial for creative teams to have a place where they can be inspired and passionately pursue their ideas. Clients hire creative agencies for this unique capability, not just for efficiency.” To reignite creativity in marketing and advertising, agencies must lean on organizational values to drive internal culture, Doskow said. Agencies should foster interdepartmental collaboration to promote understanding and empathy across functions, which enhances overall business performance. List member Elizabeth Del Valle, global marketing lead for creator marketing at YouTube, stressed the importance of balancing human creativity with technological advancements to ensure teams remain adaptable, inspired, and eager to innovate. “As marketing leaders, it’s essential to build a strong team culture that emphasizes creative effectiveness,” Del Valle said. “In an era where AI is rapidly transforming industries, we must ensure teams collaborate efficiently and effectively, blending human creativity with technological advancements.” From her perspective, building a culture of creative effectiveness is key to achieving both immediate and sustained success. For agencies and companies alike, Del Valle said “cultivating an environment where creativity is not only encouraged but also systematically tied to business objectives” will help drive sustainable success and the clear connections between culture and performance will foster greater employee engagement and better results. Employer branding should not just attract and retain employees—it should also showcase the value that distinct teams bring to the business. Selling the internal brand to secure resources and enhance team morale is critical for achieving business success. Graduating from customer communities to ecosystems Just as people are complex, multilayered individuals, so are customer groups. They aren’t distinct, isolated communities as they’ve been treated in the past. Instead, customer groups are part of complex ecosystems where individuals shift between various subcultures and interests. Rather than relying on surface-level targeting, such as celebrity endorsements, AI allows marketers uncover subtle commonalities and tap into these shared values and behaviors across diverse customer segments. Traditional demographic segmentation falls short of capturing the depth of modern customer behaviors, but AI can analyze vast datasets to identify nuanced customer segments based on behavioral patterns, psychographics and purchasing history. By understanding individual preferences within broader groups, brands can deliver personalized messages and product recommendations that resonate with specific subgroups. This level of personalization increases engagement by delivering the right message at the right time. However, List member Marissa Nance, CEO of Native Tongue Communications (NTC), warns that while AI has its potential for practical use, there are diversity, equity and inclusion limits that the industry as a whole must be mindful of. “Our role and our mission at NTC is in service to Microcultural audiences, specifically communities of color. Through that lens, we are continually disappointed in what AI delivers when attempting to create an authentic connection with people that look and sound like us,” Nance said. “I think we’re all very aware that while we have “AI learning” of its own, this conversation begins with who created it, and there continues to be, at its core, persistent problems in terms of misogyny and racism.” AI also enables companies to build scalable customer ecosystems that engage individuals across multiple touchpoints. By integrating customer data from various channels—websites, apps, social media and email—AI-driven tools can help marketers create seamless omnichannel experiences. This consistent engagement fosters customer loyalty by offering a unified brand experience that feels personal and relevant. List member Kwame Taylor-Hayford, co-founder of Kin—and newly named president of D&AD—emphasizes the critical distinction between an audience and a community, noting that brands often communicate to an audience rather than genuinely nurture a community. “If you’re really looking to build a community, it’s about the nature of that interaction and understanding that it’s two-way conversation and not one-way monologue,” Taylor-Hayford said. Underscoring the importance of fostering connections among community members, which should take precedence over short-term brand goals, he added: “It’s about longevity and how you’re able to support and empower the outcomes of that specific group of people. Ultimately there will be a tangible brand benefit, but short term, it’s really about empowering what the community needs.” List member Karan Dang, CEO and cofounder of Dang, points to the growing trend of creators moving toward direct monetization models, such as Patreon or other subscription-based platforms, allowing them to cater directly to their audiences and reduce their dependence on brand partnerships. “Creator marketing has shifted beyond just tapping into an audience,” Dang said. “Now it’s about becoming part of a community in a way that is meaningful, honest and deeply connected.” That said, Dang believes there are ways brands can effectively leverage creator communities, beginning with being relatable rather than aspirational. Gen Z in particular craves connections and content that understands their challenges and everyday realities, as compared with older generations that found idealized lifestyle marketing more aspiring. Emphasizing community over consumerism speaks to their need for belonging, and leaning into co-creation shows that brands too are eager for authentic connections. Co-creating products with influencers not only taps into this authenticity but also earns deeper loyalty from their communities. As the next era of culture-building takes shape, organizations must adapt to the changing landscape by embracing strategies rooted in both DEI and AI. Standardizing team-building processes, promoting inclusive leadership and transitioning from traditional customer communities to interconnected ecosystems will help companies foster stronger internal cultures and more meaningful customer engagements. This forward-thinking approach will enable organizations to align their culture-building efforts with technological advancements and evolving societal values, ensuring long-term success. For the past six years, Ad Age and Meta have assembled a collective of advertising, marketing and media thought leaders to confront and address industry-wide issues, leveraging the power of connection to leave a lasting legacy. Since its launch in 2019, The List has tackled parental leave; diversity, equity and inclusion; and mentorship, resulting in the creation of programs that drive true change within the industry. In 2023, The List published “The Modern CMO Playbook,” a thought leadership series that would identify the most pressing issues confronting the industry. This is the first of two articles The List 2024 is adding to “The Modern CMO Playbook” this year. Check back at AdAge.com/TheList in the coming months for the follow-up article. To learn more, follow The List on LinkedIn, Instagram (and Threads) and Facebook.

The Modern CMO Playbook—how AI and DEI are driving long-term business success

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