The Agentic CMO

What this book is about.

AI agents are not just another marketing tool. They represent a structural shift in how marketing functions operate — from human-executed processes to hybrid workflows to, eventually, fully autonomous systems. Most CMOs are nowhere near ready for what that means.

The Agentic CMO provides a clear-eyed framework for senior marketing leaders who need to navigate this shift without losing strategic coherence, brand integrity, or their best people. It is grounded in two decades of hard-won experience leading marketing transformation at S&P Global, JLL, Acer, and Vodafone.

This book is for CMOs who want to lead the transition, not react to it.

01

The Agentic Shift

From human-executed to AI-augmented to agent-driven marketing operations. What changes structurally — not just tactically — and why the timeline is shorter than most CMOs expect.

02

Strategic Clarity Under Ambiguity

Making consequential decisions when the technology is evolving faster than planning cycles. The CMO as navigator and sensemaker — not just a manager of functions.

03

Brand in the Age of Automation

What happens to brand-building, creative standards, and brand integrity when significant parts of the content stack are generated by AI. How to hold the line.

04

Redefining the Marketing Function

The team, the skills, the structure. How to build and lead the AI-era marketing organisation without losing the human creativity at the core of great marketing.

05

Ethics, Responsibility & Trust

Data ethics, AI transparency, and consumer trust. What marketers owe their audiences in an AI-native environment — and how to build governance that holds.

06

The CMO as Chief Intelligence Officer

The new scope of the CMO role: part marketing leader, part AI strategist, part intelligence architect. How to reposition and lead in an organisation that is itself transforming.

About the Author

Written from the C-suite, not the sidelines.

Francesco Federico has served as Global CMO at S&P Global and held senior marketing leadership roles at JLL, Acer, and Vodafone — nearly two decades on the front line of marketing transformation. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a member of the World Economic Forum's Strategic Communicators Exchange.

He has led PE/VC commercial due diligence on $2B+ transactions, built MarTech ecosystems used by teams across 80 countries, and scaled digital marketing operations from London to Taipei. The Agentic CMO draws on all of it.