A Guide for CMOs in 2026
The CMO Council / Wise Marketer Interview Series features creative and impactful people from all corners of the marketing world – Founders, C-Suite executives, and influential voices in the community.
Today’s Guest is Marta Bowles, Chief Communications Officer & Head of Global Marketing CoE at NielsenIQ.
Marta recently had an incredible opportunity to speak directly with chief marketing officers (CMOs) across industries about the challenges shaping their world. From all the conversations, the universality of the challenges faced by CMOs was highlighted, but despite the complexities, one theme stood out: resilience.
Nielsen IQ recently published a compilation of these conversations in this year’s CMO Outlook: Guide to 2026. Third edition.
The report reflects those conversations and the survey feedback from other senior marketing leaders across the globe. It offers insights into the contradictions they’re grappling with and provides actionable strategies to turn these challenges into opportunities.
Today’s conversation will closely examine the findings from this report and illustrate how CMOs are drawing on creativity and business acumen to solve problems that have no easy answers.
These leaders are balancing short-term performance with long-term brand building, finding clarity in a sea of data, and leading their organizations through disruption with confidence and purpose. We trust this conversation will inspire you and bring you practical guidance to help you lead with confidence in the year ahead.
Time Stamps for the Time Starved:
02:31 Marta’s Favorite Non-Fiction Book
04:14 Background on Marta and Nielsen IQ
08:56 The CMO Outlook Guide for 2026
14:41 Navigating Fragmented Data
18:56 Proving ROI under tighter budgets
21:11 Retail Media Networks
22:51 Artificial Intelligence
25:31 The Importance of Resilience
27:41 Contrasting CMO Views Across the Globe
29:06 Biggest Challenges for CMOs in 2026
31:35 Is Customer Centricity a Priority in 2026?
33:51 Final Thoughts
Editor’s Note
Marta Cyhan-Bowles is Chief Communications Officer and Head of Global Marketing COE. Marta is a proven marketing and communications leader, specializing in guiding teams towards long-term success through data-driven rigor and a personal bias for innovative campaigns that captivate, engage, and ultimately drive measurable growth.
As Global Marketing COE, she leads the charge in unifying the global team at NIQ across communication, brand, digital and thought leadership efforts. The goal, to bring transformational value to C-Suite leaders across the retail and manufacturing sectors.
Prior to her role at NIQ, Cyhan served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Catalina Marketing and held positions of CMO and Executive Vice President of Strategy and Entertainment Partnerships at MAC Presents. Additionally, she has contributed her expertise as a senior marketing advisor to the President of North America at Avon and as Vice President of Marketing at Kellogg, where she led corporate-wide partnership campaigns and led global teams to deliver campaign resonance across key markets.