As brands that eliminate the CMO role gain attention in marketing circles, it’s time to ask if it’s more evolution than revolution.
Published on October 14, 2026 •
3 minutes read
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Is the CMO role truly dying, or are modern marketers just setting themselves up for failure?
In this episode of Conversations with MarTech, we sit down with Kyle Lacy, CMO at Docebo, to break down the real reasons major brands are eliminating executive marketing positions.
Kyle exposes the biggest traps holding modern marketers back — from over-indexing on pipeline numbers to letting AI replace human connection — and outlines what it actually takes to build a brand that is impossible to ignore.
Key takeaways
- The production house trap: Why viewing marketing strictly as a content assembly line makes your role easily replaceable by AI tools.
- The risk of short-term thinking: What really happens to pipeline 12 months after a company absorbs marketing under sales.
- Human-centric storytelling: Why brand story is your only true competitive edge in an AI-driven market.
- The flaw of attribution: Why using attribution models as “absolute truth” kills creative team innovation.
Episode guide
00:00 Introduction
00:31 Meet Kyle Lacy
01:47 A high-level take on what’s happened to the CMO role
03:18 Are B2B or tech companies more likely to eliminate the CMO role?
04:52 “We did this to ourselves.”
07:27 What is the risk you face when you eliminate the CMO?
10:26 Are more technical-minded CMOs better prepared for the future?
14:17 What’s the difference between product and brand for today’s B2B orgs?
16:20 What’s the biggest lie marketing tells itself?
18:30 “If you want to kill creatives, tell them they have a pipeline goal to hit.”
Recommended Articles
Follow Conversations with MarTech on:
MarTech is owned by Semrush. We remain committed to providing high-quality coverage of marketing topics. Unless otherwise noted, this page’s content was written by either an employee or a paid contractor of Semrush Inc.
Mike Pastore is the Head of Content & Media at Third Door Media, the publisher of the Martech and Search Engine Land websites and the producer of the SMX and MarTech Conferences. In nearly three decades in B2B marketing, Mike has worked as an editor, writer, and marketer. He first wrote about marketing in 1998 for internet.com (later Jupitermedia). He then worked with marketers at some of the best-known brands in B2B tech, creating content for marketing campaigns at both Jupitermedia and QuinStreet. Prior to joining Third Door Media as the Editorial Director of the MarTech website, he led demand generation at B2B media company TechnologyAdvice.
Google’s “preferred sources” feature allows users to customize their search results by selecting news outlets they want to see more often in the “Top Stories” section.
Related Articles
AI agents could be the key to meeting the crazy expectations of consumers, but only if they’re used wisely.
You’re swimming in data and AI tools. Is any of it really helping you better understand your customers?
Traditional customer surveys, endless feedback requests, and Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are failing both consumers and brands. What should modern companies do instead.
Rule-based automation is giving way to truly autonomous marketing. Discover how human-in-the-loop design frees your team to focus on real business outcomes.
Related Articles
AI agents could be the key to meeting the crazy expectations of consumers, but only if they’re used wisely.
You’re swimming in data and AI tools. Is any of it really helping you better understand your customers?
Traditional customer surveys, endless feedback requests, and Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are failing both consumers and brands. What should modern companies do instead.
Rule-based automation is giving way to truly autonomous marketing. Discover how human-in-the-loop design frees your team to focus on real business outcomes.
