CMOs shift gears as MMA India maps a high speed reckoning for 2026

MUMBAI: If 2025 was the turbulence, 2026 is the tailwind or the test. That was the unmistakable message as the MMA India Board convened for its latest high-stakes annual huddle, warning marketers that the year ahead will demand sharper thinking, harder choices and a fundamental shift in how the CMO role is defined.

After a year marked by compressed margins, volatile consumption, urban slowdown, K-shaped recovery patterns, rapid digitisation and a deafening AI experiment rush, the board declared a clear rallying cry for 2026: Sharpen. Simplify. Strengthen.

With board members from Sanofi, Meta, Sony Pictures Network, Aditya Birla Group, Affle, Kantar, Adobe, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Google, The Trade Desk, Flipkart Ads, Myntra, Perfetti Van Melle, Accenture, Amazon Ads, L’Oréal and more in attendance along with special guest Kirthiga Reddy (Verix), the consensus was unanimous:

The Seven Shifts Marketers Cannot Ignore in 2026

1. Creativity, Commerce and Capability Must Converge

The siloed CMO is obsolete. Leaders must now drive ideas, numbers and long-term capability-building in tandem. P&L fluency is non-negotiable, and every rupee must tie back to growth levers, unit economics and lifetime value, not vanity metrics.

Challenger brands are sprinting ahead because they’re faster, leaner and financially disciplined. Legacy brands must catch up.
2. Consumer-Centricity Must Outweigh Tech Worship

The board issued a sharp caveat, Do not let AI overshadow actual human insight.

Key shifts highlighted:

 .  OTT attention ≠ UGC attention; context determines creative strategy.

 .   India is rediscovering the offline world concerts, experiences, on-ground engagement.

 .  Aspirations are nonlinear: consumers trade up and trade down simultaneously.

 .   AI must enable empathy, not erode it.

The winners in 2026, brands that keep the human at the centre.

3. India’s Consumer Pyramid Is Now Fully Fragmented

From rural resilience to urban caution, Gen Z’s anti-legacy sentiment, the squeezed middle, and the rapid rise of Q-commerce, India’s consumption story is splitting in unpredictable ways.

To win, brands must connect three forces that no longer move together:

Behaviour. Channels. Competition.

4. AI Will Rewire Everything, But Must Stay Grounded

2026 will be the year of AI effectiveness, not AI noise.

The board stressed:

 .   AI must prove ROI.

 .   It will reshape creative, planning, personalisation and measurement.

 .   Governance, guardrails and ethics must lead adoption.

This is the move from pilot projects to performance-driven AI.

5. Growth Lies in the Movable Middles

One of MMA’s most potent global frameworks takes centre stage in 2026.

The Movable Middles Growth Model:

 .  Targets consumers most likely to shift with the right nudge.

 .   Delivers highest incremental ROI.

 .  Eliminates waste on loyalists and non-converters.

 .   Works across TV, digital, retail media, q-commerce and programmatic.

In a low-growth economy, this becomes a survival strategy.

6. Marketing Organisations Must Become Faster and Flatter

To keep pace, CMOs must rebuild teams for:

 .  Shorter feedback loops

 .    Integrated CX + data + digital maturity

 .    AI-led processes

 .    Cross-functional KPIs

 .    New-age capability mixes spanning data science, retail media, product thinking and experience design

MMA’s global benchmark shows:

A 1 per cent improvement in capability fit = 2.5 per cent lift in revenue.

Capability-building is now a growth engine, not an HR initiative.

7. Gender Equity and Purpose Must Become Structural

The board made it clear: the age of performative purpose is over.

2026 must bring:

 .  Male allyship and policy-level interventions

 .  Stronger support for women at critical career inflection points

 .   Visibility for women leaders as a growth imperative

 .  Purpose woven into product, hiring, partnerships and strategy, not slogans

Purpose becomes a business input, not a brand veneer.
The Dual Mandate for 2026

The MMA India Board summarised the year ahead with a powerful dual playbook:
Solve for Now:

Growth. Profitability. Performance. Efficiency. Focus.

Build for Next:

AI maturity
CX + data depth
Organisational redesign
Retail media
Q-commerce
Consumer insight engines

As MMA India Chair Amit Jain put it, “2026 is about changing the wheels of a car moving at 80 mph.”

And the industry’s challenge is to keep accelerating without losing traction.