Australian CMOs Shift From AI Pilots to Operational Scale
Australian CMOs now focus on scaling AI operations. ACAM and Kantar's expanded benchmark reveals only 8% are truly AI-advanced.
The Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM) and global research firm Kantar have announced a strategic research partnership to expand Australia's AI marketing benchmark into its second year. IBM, the founding enterprise partner, continues in the program. Participation has more than doubled compared to the inaugural 2025 study, with CMOs from financial services, retail, technology, telecommunications, government, and the not-for-profit sector now included.
The 2026 report is expected in July. But the headline is already clear: Australian marketing leaders are no longer asking whether to use AI. They are asking whether their organizations are actually built to run it at scale.
The Gap Between Ambition and Reality
The inaugural ACAM benchmark painted a sobering picture of where Australian marketing teams stand. Just 8% were classified as "AI-Advanced." The majority (52%) were Beginners. Another 40% were somewhere in the middle.
Ambition runs high. 83% of Australian CMOs say they expect AI tools like generative AI to deliver strong returns. But only 35% say their organizations have leaders who are actively pushing for AI adoption internally. That gap between expectation and execution is the core problem the 2026 study is designed to diagnose.
The workforce picture is stark. 61% of Australian CMOs say they're struggling with the AI skill levels of their own teams. Nearly half (49%) flag regulatory and compliance concerns. And 48% say their organization lacks any kind of ethics or risk framework for AI at all.
From Pilots to Operations
The global picture looks similar. 97% of executives say they're deploying AI agents in 2026. But only 29% are seeing significant ROI. Globally, 91% of marketers say they now use AI in their daily work, up from 63% the year before. Yet 88% of organizations report that less than 5% of their revenue is attributable to AI.
Mission Media
Everyone is using the tools. Almost no one has figured out how to make them compound into a real business advantage.
"A year ago, most organisations were still experimenting with AI," said Louise Cummins, CEO and co-founder of ACAM. "But we are now seeing a much deeper focus on operational transformation, leadership readiness and workforce capability."
Cummins added: "What's becoming increasingly clear through this year's benchmark is that this is no longer simply a technology conversation. Across sectors, we're seeing strong common trends around governance, organisational redesign, capability development and the pressure to move from isolated pilots into scalable transformation."
What Kantar Brings
Kantar's involvement is expected to link AI adoption directly to brand growth outcomes. Where the 2025 study focused on maturity scoring, the 2026 benchmark will ask a harder question: not "are you using AI?" but "is it actually making your brand more competitive?"
"AI is already reshaping how brands grow," said Karin Du Chenne, Executive Group Director of Kantar Australia. "But most organisations are still underestimating what it takes to turn capability into competitive advantage. The next phase of AI in marketing will be defined by who can embed it into decision-making, not just deploy it in pockets."
Only 23.3% of companies currently have AI agents fully integrated into their marketing operations in production. The rest are running AI in fragments, with disconnected tools that don't feed into any unified strategy.
The Regulatory Reality
Australia's regulatory environment is adding urgency. The government's voluntary AI Ethics Framework outlines eight core principles, and consultations are underway on mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI use. APRA and ASIC have already published AI guidance for financial services organizations.
Mission Media
For CMOs in regulated industries, the question is no longer whether compliance frameworks will be required. It is how quickly their teams can get ready.
The ACAM-Kantar partnership signals that Australia's marketing sector is starting to treat AI maturity the way it treats financial or operational risk: something that needs to be formally measured, benchmarked, and governed. The full 2026 benchmark is expected in July.
