Creative Effectiveness Decoded: The Global CMO Survey

Launching Tuesday 30 June 2026

Misplaced confidence. Weak foundations. Real consequences. New research from 115 global senior marketing leaders reveals the true state of creative effectiveness.

Sixty-two percent of senior marketing leaders are investing in media to deliver creative whose true value is unknown, while one in four have seen their creative budget cut as a result.

These are not hypothetical risks. They are the reality facing CMOs, VPs and Heads of Marketing at global brands and they share a common cause: high confidence in effectiveness and measurement approaches that lack the sophistication needed to provide the data-informed evidence c-suites require.

Gain Theory’s Global CMO Survey takes an honest, data-informed look at where the industry stands: what senior marketers believe about their creative effectiveness, how they are measuring it today, what barriers are holding them back, and whether they have the evidence they need to defend and grow their investment.

What the Survey Data Reveals

The findings reveal a disconnect between confidence and reality that has real commercial consequences:

• 62% of senior marketing leaders are investing in media to deliver creative whose true value is unknown
• 89% believe their creative has been effective over the last 12 months, yet only 36% apply the same measurement rigour to creative as they do to media
• 25% have seen their creative budget cut due to an inability to provide data-informed evidence of its effectiveness
• 100% of copy/pre-testing users say they would redirect that budget to fund a more accurate alternative if one existed
• 68% cite inadequate creative data and 56% cite lack of tools as the main barriers.

What This Report Covers

By reading Creative Effectiveness Decoded: The Global CMO Survey, you will:

• Understand the true scale of the creative measurement challenge and why it persists across sectors and seniority levels
• Discover why senior marketers’ confidence in their measurement capabilities may be less grounded than they think
• Learn why copy/pre-testing is under growing scrutiny
• Uncover the extent to which creative measurement is lagging creative production when it comes to AI adoption
• Get seven practical next steps to build a more robust approach to creative effectiveness.

Who Should Read This Report

This report is essential reading if:

• You are a CMO, VP or Head of Marketing accountable for creative investment and performance
• You work in marketing effectiveness, analytics or measurement and want to strengthen your creative measurement capabilities
• You work in media or creative and want to understand how greater measurement rigor could improve performance and protect investment
• You want practical, data-informed guidance on connecting creative investment to measurable business outcomes.

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"For too long, creative has been the unmeasured half of advertising effectiveness. This survey reveals not just the scale of the challenge but its consequences – budgets cut, confidence misplaced, and media investment undermined – and what you can do to solve it."

Russell Nuzzo

Global Head of New Media Measurement, Gain Theory

What’s Inside the Report

The report is structured around four chapters:

Chapter 1: High Confidence
This explores the extent to senior marketers believe their creative has been effective and that their measurement approach is advanced.

Chapter 2: A More Complicated Reality
This documents the lack of analytical rigor in creative measurement and its consequences, including an inability to defend creative investment to the CFO.

Chapter 3: The Key Barriers to Overcome
This examines why inadequate data and a lack of tools are the top barriers cited by survey respondents and what AI adoption patterns reveal about where the industry is heading.

Chapter 4: A Final Word on Copy/Pre-Testing
This explores copy/pre-testing’s place in creative effectiveness, the doubts surrounding its value, and what marketers say they would do if a more accurate alternative existed.

The Creative Measurement Shortfall Has Real Consequences. This Is Where to Start.

Creative measurement is falling short and is and already costing marketers budget. Download your free copy of Creative Effectiveness Decoded: The Global CMO Survey and start building a more robust approach to creative effectiveness.

Fill Out the Form to Receive the Report

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(FAQs) Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it hard to measure creative effectiveness?
The main barriers are structural. Gain Theory’s Global CMO Survey found that 68% of senior marketers cite inadequate creative data and 56% lack appropriate tools. Financial and strategic barriers rank far lower, suggesting the will and budget to solve the problem broadly exist — but the infrastructure is still missing.

How does creative measurement compare to media measurement?
Media has decades of sophisticated measurement infrastructure behind it. Creative measurement has significant ground to make up. Gain Theory’s Global CMO Survey found that while 81% of senior marketers believe creative and media drive advertising outcomes equally, only 36% apply the same measurement rigor to both — with direct consequences for their ability to defend creative investment.

What alternatives are there to traditional creative testing methods?
Copy testing, focus groups, and brand recall studies can help evaluate audience reactions, but they don’t explain which creative assets drive business results and why. The latest creative effectiveness approaches use AI and advanced analytics to link creative performance directly to sales outcomes, giving marketers a more reliable basis for investment decisions.

How can I defend creative investment in front of a CFO?
Defending or increasing creative investment requires evidence of commercial impact. Gain Theory’s Global CMO Survey found that 49% of senior marketing leaders lack the data-informed evidence to make this case. Advanced measurement that draws a direct line between specific creative assets and incremental sales is the foundation for that conversation.

How widely is AI being adopted in creative effectiveness?
Gain Theory’s Global CMO Survey found 87% of senior marketers are using or piloting AI to produce creative, yet only 56% are doing so for measurement — a 31-percentage point difference. The result is that the industry is producing more creative than ever while understanding less about what drives its effectiveness.