70% Say It's a Priority. 17% Are Actually Doing It.

Here's a question most marketing leaders can't answer cleanly.

"If you could solve one AI or data challenge in the next 90 days — the one that would have the most meaningful impact on your marketing effectiveness — what would it be?"

Not a wishlist. One thing.

Most organizations can't answer that. Not because they don't care about AI. Because they've never been forced to prioritize.

Here's what the data says: 70% of marketing leaders say optimizing spend is a top priority. Only 17% are actually using AI to analyze and optimize campaigns. That gap — between what leaders say matters and what AI is actually doing — is the diagnostic. And the 90-day question is the forcing function that reveals it.

The exercise:

Ask this question in your next leadership meeting. Write down the answers before anyone speaks.

What you'll usually find:
→ Finance names a measurement problem
→ Operations names a data quality problem
→ The CMO names a tool problem
→ The agency names a brief problem

Four different answers. One shared budget. No shared priority.

That's not an AI readiness problem. That's a leadership alignment problem wearing an AI mask.

The organizations actually moving are the ones that have answered this question — and gotten the whole room to the same answer. Not because the problem is small. Because they made a choice.

What would your one thing be?

Drop it in the comments. Seriously. I read every one. And if you can't name it in one sentence — that's the answer.

Source: Supermetrics, Marketing Data Report 2026 — survey of 400+ marketers across the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and Singapore.
* 70% of marketing leaders cite optimizing spend as a short-term priority.
* Only 17% are actually using AI to analyze and optimize campaigns.
That gap is the whole conversation.
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