Publicis Sapient: Teresa Barreira Redefines the Role of CMOs with AI

AI as a Catalyst for Change for CMOs

Teresa Barreira, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Publicis Sapient, believes that artificial intelligence (AI) has triggered a fundamental and necessary change for major marketers. According to her, the role of CMO has been under pressure for years, partly due to an inconsistent definition of the position. In ten different companies, there are ten distinct interpretations of what a CMO should do, whether it involves managing the brand, demand, or communication.

This inconsistency has made the role easy to question and eliminate. Barreira considers the CMO position to be both the most exciting and the most challenging in a company, as everyone thinks they can be a marketer. Too many CMOs focus on marketing operations, which should be the role of a Vice President of Marketing. Operations include managing campaigns, channels, communications, engagements, and brands.

The true role of the CMO, according to Barreira, is to take care of the business affairs: defining the vision, deciding on the future direction, what the company stands for, and how it grows. The decisions made today must define the future and position the company in the market. These issues are very different from merely managing marketing campaigns.

The Revealing Impact of AI

AI, Barreira explains, acts as a mirror that exposes existing practices. It forces a long-overdue assessment. The uncomfortable truth is that many CMOs have long settled for coordination, reporting, briefs, approvals, and production, rather than developing a strategic vision. AI raises the question: if it can accomplish these tasks, what is the role of the CMO?

AI amplifies the judgments already present in the organization. It raises the baseline and amplifies the ceiling. Many CMOs use AI because the CEO demands it, but they often integrate it into an existing and failing workflow and thought process, which simply amplifies bad behaviors. While AI can accelerate certain tasks, it does not replace the need for a clear strategy and long-term vision.

Publicis Sapient's Approach

At Publicis Sapient, AI was adopted three years ago, with the instruction to experiment with its capabilities. However, after six months, Barreira found that the adoption of AI had not fundamentally changed her team's working methods. AI was used as a supporting tool, without any real transformation of practices.

To address this, Publicis Sapient developed an autonomous campaign agent, although the initial quality was not satisfactory. The company then decided to map every marketing function, identifying over 700 daily tasks. It turned out that 80 to 90% of these tasks could be accelerated through AI, and about 40% could be fully automated.

Towards a Redefinition of Roles

The implementation of AI has allowed Publicis Sapient to reduce the number of steps needed to launch a campaign from 50 to 11, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing costs. However, Barreira emphasizes the importance of reinvesting the time and savings achieved into tasks that only humans can perform.

She has redefined positions within her team to focus on essential human skills, such as judgment, intuition, and the ability to think abstractly. AI, while effective, cannot replace human boldness and intuition, which have often been the source of Barreira's greatest successes. AI will never be as bold as humans, and the most impactful decisions of her career have often relied on her intuition and her ability to go against established norms.