Doing more with less: Lessons from APAC’s CMOs

At a time when B2B marketing teams across APAC are being asked to deliver better results with less resources, this year’s CMO Playbook launch events offered both reality checks and practical wisdom from leading CMOs.

Feedback from panellists at both the Sydney and Melbourne events revealed regional marketers may have lost autonomy in some critical areas, but they aren’t powerless.

By applying a few mindset shifts, influence can be earned, built and sustained, despite increasing centralisation.

Here are some of the key takeaways from leaders currently navigating this new reality and finding ways to make their voices heard on the global stage.

1. Persistence pays: Make your stance heard

“Sometimes you have to say the same thing for over a year before leadership truly gets it.”

“Sometimes you have to say the same thing for over a year before leadership truly gets it.”

This sentiment by one CMO captures a universal challenge for APAC marketers. In centralised organisations, APAC influence isn’t a given, it has to be earned – and that cam take time. Leaders who win autonomy don’t do so through a single argument, they do it through consistent, evidence-based persistence.

Our research found that while 42 per cent of CMOs report greater autonomy, nearly as many said theirs had decreased. The critical difference between the two outcomes is advocacy methods. Those who backed their local perspective with data and outcomes, not just their opinion, were more likely to shift HQ perceptions.

Strategy: Make the case for local relevance early and often. Use performance metrics, customer stories, and even anecdotal sales feedback to show why certain approaches work differently in APAC.

2. Make APAC visible and indispensable

“Join the late-night calls. Show up. Challenge the thinking.”

Visibility is power. If you’re not sitting at the table, the broader team will talk about you, not with you. As several panellists noted, APAC may be considered, but without a presence, your voice won’t be heard in global decision-making. Being in the (virtual) room changes that dynamic.

“When global teams work with APAC, they fall in love with us. Invite them into your market and help them experience the diversity and richness of our region.”

The data backs this up. Almost half (47 per cent) of respondents cited “lack of local relevance in global messaging” as a top challenge, showing how easily APAC perspectives get diluted when they’re not directly represented.

Strategy: Create intentional opportunities for HQ exposure. From immersive visits to internal showcases of local success, the more HQ sees APAC’s complexity firsthand, the more they trust local judgment.

3. Sneak the “veggies” in

“Like sneaking veggies into your kids’ meals, make sure brand investment is there – even if it’s a covert operation.”

When budgets tighten, brand is often the first to go. In our research, CMOs admitted to cutting large events and brand programs to protect short-term pipeline. Yet, as one APAC leader put it, “Brand is what ultimately makes or breaks a deal – especially in trust-driven categories.”

Only 28 per cent of CMOs track brand metrics internally, yet 76 per cent still rank brand trust as a key sales enabler. That imbalance reveals a measurement gap, rather than a relevance gap.

Strategy: Keep brand alive by linking it to commercial outcomes. Integrate brand into full-funnel programs, repurpose customer stories as credibility proof points, and measure brand’s effect through engagement or conversion lift over time.

4. Own the revenue, shape the narrative

“Regions own the revenue. We understand our markets best.”

More and more APAC leaders are realising that influence flows from accountability. In organisations where revenue sits regionally, marketers who align tightly with sales earn greater freedom to act.

“Sometimes taking a chance with your own insights and integrated programs that deliver ROI is the best way to build credibility with global.”

Our survey echoed this shift. Pipeline contribution (77 per cent) and revenue (53 per cent) are now the most common success measures across APAC. Marketing’s voice is strongest when tied to business outcomes, not activity metrics.

Strategy: Build joint marketing-sales scorecards, co-own pipeline goals, and use shared dashboards to report progress. Removing the separation between brand, demand, and sales acceleration creates a single, continuous growth story.

5. Remove the ego from attribution

“When sales and marketing act as one team, collaboration flows across the pipeline – from brand to engagement, deal acceleration to revenue generation.”

As centralisation increases, APAC leaders agree that organisations need to stop chasing channel-specific credit.

As both resources and budgets tighten, internal silos are a luxury few can afford. Organisational success, shared across marketing and sales, as opposed to individual attribution, accelerates trust and decision-making. Your job is to prove marketing’s role in the overall process.

Strategy: Focus less on proving who generated the lead, and more on proving how marketing shortened the cycle or lifted deal velocity. This is the language that resonates with commercial leaders, ultimately securing marketing’s seat at the table.

6. Be real with AI

“AI can drive efficiency, but effectiveness still comes from human insight, creativity, and connection.”

Regardless of industry, there’s no escaping the relevance and impact of AI. It’s here, whether we like it or not.

Nearly nine in ten APAC marketers are already experimenting with AI, yet there’s resistance. Most are using it for tactical gains like resizing creative, repurposing content, or speeding up approvals, but hold concerns around ethics and realistic expectations for what AI can actually do.

Ultimately, most leaders believe AI offers benefits, but can’t replace human nuance, especially in localisation.

Strategy: Use AI to speed up mundane tasks so the team can focus on strategy and storytelling. Test tools for trans-creation, but maintain human oversight, essentially building AI literacy, not dependency.

7. Make friends with global

“When global teams work with APAC, they fall in love with us.”

All our panellists agreed that connection with global decision-makers beats confrontation. Rather than framing the relationship as “us vs them,” many have found success by bringing global partners into the journey.

Whether through co-creation workshops, regional showcases, or shared campaigns, working together is what makes the difference.

Strategy: Put yourself out there. Exposure builds empathy, which leads to trust, and ultimately increased autonomy.