‘Marketing spend isn’t decreasing, it’s just going elsewhere’: Bain & Co’s leaders

There’s no denying that the role of the chief marketing officer (CMO) has undergone a seismic shift, moving from the once straightforward task of managing campaigns and building brand equity to today becoming a critical driver of business transformation. The modern CMO is no longer just the face of the brand—they're an architect of strategic vision, tasked with navigating the complexities of a rapidly evolving business landscape. With customer expectations rising and digitalisation accelerating, the responsibilities of marketing leaders extend well beyond the confines of their department. They are now central to shaping the organisation’s broader trajectory, collaborating closely with CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs to not only influence marketing outcomes but to also ensure long-term profitability, customer retention, and sustainable growth.

This new reality has also created a demand for greater agility and insight, positioning CMOs as the linchpin of an integrated approach to business. Marketing, once a creative discipline, is now a data-driven powerhouse, demanding the same strategic rigour that was once the purview of consulting firms. As a result, consultancies are quietly taking centre stage where advertising agencies once dominated. No longer confined to advising on operational efficiencies or digital transformation, consultancies are stepping into the heart of marketing, offering the C-suite holistic strategies that blend creativity, customer experience, and technology.

One such firm is Bain & Company. With a history stretching back to 1973, it's established its reputation as one of the 'big three' management consulting firms (others include Mckinsey and BCG), working with leaders from Fortune 500 companies to ambitious startups across industries. Bain’s expertise spans strategy, marketing, organisation, operations, and mergers and acquisitions, providing tailored solutions that help clients achieve sustainable growth. Bain works with brands in sectors as varied as financial services, consumer goods, technology, retail, and healthcare.

During a recent visit to Singapore, Campaign spoke with Andreas Dullweber, Bain’s global head of marketing and customer experience, and Dr. Henrik Naujoks, head of Bain’s Asia-Pacific financial services practice. Dullweber, who has been with Bain for over 25 years, works on developing customer-led growth strategies, leading AI-driven marketing transformations, and applying Bain’s Net Promoter System (NPS) to build loyalty. Meanwhile, Naujoks, a Bain veteran of more than 30 years, focuses on digital and customer-led transformations, particularly within the financial services industry.

In an exclusive discussion, both shared insights on the ever-shifting role of the CMO, dissecting how data, technology, and customer behaviour are reshaping marketing’s strategic importance. Below are the edited excerpts.

Campaign: Andreas, you spoke about having a focus on redefining the role of modern marketeers in today's landscape during our introduction. So, what is 'modern marketing' to you?

Andreas Dullweber (AD): Well, 'modern marketing' really began with the advent of data in marketing. You could argue that data has always been there, but in reality, it only truly emerged about 10 years ago. And it’s only in the last five years that it’s been put to proper use. Marketers are finally starting to recognise data as something truly relevant. A lot of this shift ties to the rise of technology—new technologies coming into play, demanding new operating models and creating new opportunities for marketing. This has allowed marketing to extend its reach, which is a key element of modern marketing. In many organisations, marketing can now take on a much broader role than it did in the past. The root of this change is data—it has built the trust needed to give more responsibility to marketing, to trust what the marketer says and the insights they provide.

Marketers have long relied on data—be it through analytics and performance marketing. So what's really changed over the course of the five years that's shifted the data conversation today?

AD: Well, I think the current focus is still very much on first-party data, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to ‘own’ the customer anymore. You can access and learn a great deal about consumers without them being your direct customer. You can acquire this data in different ways. Five years ago, it was all about measurement, and while measurement is still crucial—attribution and understanding what’s going on is still important—today, the focus has broadened. People are now experimenting with how to enrich data, how to capture the equivalent of first-party data, and how to integrate tools like AI to both acquire and create data in a much more strategic way.

As businesses increasingly move toward platformisation and outsourcing, the debate between first-party and third-party data remains strong, especially around privacy concerns. How do companies reconcile the push for platform systems with the need to own and manage first-party data?

AD: Well, yes and no. There are competing forces, and everyone is looking for ways to gain competitive differentiation. There’s always going to be competition for data, information, and how best to use it. But I think companies now realise the world is much more complex than before. For many, first-party data used to mean simply having a customer’s information—an address, maybe some usage behaviour on their platform. That was the Holy Grail of customer understanding to drive growth, especially in tech companies. However, industries like financial services, telecommunications, and utilities have sat on first-party data for years, and they haven’t maximised its potential—partly due to regulation and partly due to capability gaps. Now, consumer product companies that don’t traditionally own first-party data are creating what they call ‘equivalent first-party data,’ which often looks different from the data you'd find in industries like telco or finance.

If you want to truly understand the customer, contact data is a start, but it’s a thin layer. Demographics only tell part of the story. What really matters is understanding the customer’s needs, passion points, and how they talk about your brand in context. This type of insight doesn’t come from traditional first-party data alone. Ironically, for companies with loads of first-party data, it has become more of a liability. They think they have everything they need, but it would likely serve them better to push that aside and focus on who their customers really are—building personas, understanding them holistically, and communicating with them more effectively.

So is it more about predictive analytics as opposed to reactive analytics? Do you need to always remain one step ahead of the consumer to succeed?

AD: Absolutely. We are moving into a world where people understood they needed to know their customers, so they used surveys and other methods to gather customer data and insights. But at the end of the day, there was still an imbalance—only the customer truly knew themselves. With the advent of new data and the ability to predict, accumulate, and analyse it, companies will soon become so data-rich that they may no longer need to ask customers directly; they’ll be able to anticipate and predict what the customer wants. And this brings us back to the fundamentals of marketing: trust. What do you do with that information? Customers judge you not on how personalised your efforts are, but on how much you seem to genuinely care about them by demonstrating that you know them and are using that information thoughtfully.

Looking at industries like financial services which are key to Asia, many organisations still rely on legacy technology, making it hard to keep pace with the necessary rate of change. When advising clients, how challenging is it to get them up to speed and meet evolving customer needs?

Henrik Naujoks (NH): Technology used to be the biggest inhibitor—it was really the enemy of change. But now, the organisational model has probably become the largest barrier. While it's still a challenge, new technologies have emerged that can help accelerate change. In the past, if you wanted unified data, you had to create a single database. Today, that's no longer necessary—you can combine relatively fuzzy data into something meaningful and useful. So, while technology hurdles can be overcome, the real issue lies in the operating models—the existing silos, internal kingdoms, and the ways of working between them. As long as these remain, it’s hard to drive real change.

AI is often hailed as the 'silver bullet' of modern marketing, but consulting firms have long advised clients on the benefits of automation and AI, whether in supply chain management or productivity efficiencies. What has changed in the AI conversation today, and why is it gaining so much attention now?

HN: One of the biggest changes today is how AI helps us generate and use data more effectively. When it comes to personalisation at scale, AI allows us to create highly tailored content that would have been impossible five or ten years ago. The ability to leverage it for personalisation is a game-changer—it moves beyond basic segmentation and helps brands deliver more relevant, customised experiences to individual consumers.

AD: We’re now in a world where companies have understood the need to gather customer insights, traditionally through surveys and other methods. But even then, there was an imbalance—only the customer truly knew what they wanted. Now, with the influx of data and the ability to predict, companies have become so data-rich that they can anticipate customer needs without having to ask. This brings us back to the core of marketing: Trust, and how you use the information you have.

If we're talking wider business model transformation, then how are CMOs getting a sharper edge at the table alongside CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs to influence such change?

AD: They need two things to come together. On one hand, you need to fully embrace data—it’s no longer possible to operate like in the old days, where you could say, 'half of my budget works, I just don’t know which half’. You need to prove your case with reliable data, showing real financial results from campaigns, and that’s what gets you taken seriously. On the other hand, CMOs need to broaden their roles and responsibilities, often evolving into chief customer and marketing officers. They must take on the full scope of marketing, from branding to customer experience, ensuring a consistent and value-adding customer journey.

Is the industry caught in a catch-22? Agencies are seeing reduced campaign budgets, and CMOs are facing similar cuts. How do you convince companies to invest more in marketing when they’re already feeling the pressure of budget constraints?

AD: Fundamentally, the money that goes into marketing is not decreasing, even if agencies might complain. However, it might not end up where it used to end up—in their pockets. It goes into many channels. I think most of the more sophisticated companies [are thinking more] about what we call OESP—owned, earned, shared, and paid. But paid has become very expensive. If you start with paid, it’s hard, right? So, for many companies, it’s becoming reinforcing versus leading, for example. We might not see as much earned or sponsorship. That’s where budgets are moving around.

Secondly, the demarcation lines are changing between what you outsource versus what you insource. You need to be able to make the case that your campaigns achieve real financial impact. For that, you need to potentially correlate it with omni-channel sellout data—that’s the Holy Grail of data for many companies, which is super sensitive, and you would never give it to an agency to optimise against. So what does it mean? You need to optimise yourself against that. All these things are changing where the money is flowing, but overall, there’s more money than ever in marketing— despite the fact that many CMOs may complain that they don’t get enough.

Finally, moving beyond the CMO agenda, what's keeping the CEOs you advise up at night?

AD: Disruptive forces like technology, geopolitics, and industry substitution are significant concerns. These factors can dramatically impact business models, and CEOs are constantly navigating these uncertainties.

HN: There’s also a focus on value creation. CEOs are asking whether their companies are truly creating value for investors, customers, and employees. It’s a simple but critical question, especially for large organisations. CEOs are also concerned about the rapid pace of change and the need to adapt quickly. The pressure to keep up with technological advancements while ensuring their organisations remain agile and resilient is intense. It’s about balancing the need to innovate with the need to maintain a stable, value-driven business.