Marketing teams are under growing pressure to justify every dollar they spend, yet many are still prioritizing what is easiest to measure over what delivers sustainable business growth, according to a new global report by Marketing Week, produced in partnership with Kantar and Google.
The report, The Language of Effectiveness 2026, surveyed more than 600 brand marketers and argues that organisations need a common commercial language that connects marketing performance with broader business objectives rather than treating effectiveness as a standalone reporting exercise.
The report describes the current environment as a “‘prove it or lose it’ moment for their budgets”, warning that intense economic pressure has increased demands for immediate returns. However, it says this has led many organisations to “mistakenly conflate short-term efficiency with genuine long-term effectiveness.”
One of the report’s most striking findings is that 71.7% of marketers say the ease of measuring results influences how they allocate marketing budgets. According to the report, this “measurement trap” risks undermining long-term brand building by favouring activities that generate immediate, measurable outcomes over investments with longer-term commercial benefits.
The study also identifies a significant gap in assessing creative performance. Nearly half (47.9%) of brands surveyed lack a reliable mechanism to measure the impact of creativity, making it harder to demonstrate how creative quality contributes to business growth.
Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, is moving beyond content production into more strategic functions. According to the report, 51.1% of marketers are now using AI for strategic market research, while 44.2% are deploying it for creative testing, signalling what it describes as “AI’s strategic pivot.”
The report also highlights a disconnect between marketing departments and senior leadership. It found that 71.1% of marketing teams define success differently from their CEO and CFO, suggesting that many organisations lack a shared understanding of what marketing effectiveness means in commercial terms.
Rather than viewing effectiveness as a marketing-only metric, the report argues that businesses should adopt a common framework that aligns marketing performance with C-suite priorities and long-term growth objectives.
“The Language of Effectiveness 2026” concludes that organisations need to move “effectiveness away from a siloed reporting exercise” and develop “a shared commercial language that aligns marketing directly with C-suite objectives” if they are to achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly scrutinised business environment.
