Why CMOs should be connecting their insights in the new year

For CMOs, the last few years have been defined by two main pressures:

1. Raising the bar on creative effectiveness 

2. Proving that every dollar spent is working harder than the last 

Yet many organizations still rely on fragmented research — campaign optimization over here, brand trackers over there and innovation research in another system entirely. 

The result? Marketing teams are making high-stakes decisions based on only slivers of the truth, not the full picture.

The new year offers CMOs a clean pivot point. A chance to go from disconnected, fragmented research to a genuinely connected insights ecosystem — one that not only accelerates decisions and reduces wasted time or budget, but builds a continuous learning system that only creates a better understanding of your consumer over time.

Let’s take a deeper look at why this shift matters now, what it unlocks and how CMOs can take the first steps in connecting insights.

TL;DR: 

• Disconnected insights are quietly costing brands millions

• Connecting insights isn’t just about stitching together dashboards, it’s about building an ecosystem where every research study feeds the next

• True connected insights unify brand performance data, creative learnings, innovation and product insights and consumer behavior and sentiment

• Several forces are converging to make connected insights a necessity, not a luxury

• Connected insights can unlock four key things for CMOs

• CMOs can start connecting insights with several targeted, high-impact moves

Most marketing organizations don’t suffer from a lack of data, they suffer from a lack of connectedness. 

When insights live in different systems or dashboards brands typically experience the following:

1. Slow, reactive decisions

Teams spend weeks gathering past learnings instead of harnessing the ability to start applying them instantly. This slows down campaign development and increases reliance on (risky) gut instinct.

2. Duplicated testing and wasted budget

The same claim, creative idea or shopper insight may end up being tested multiple times because teams can’t see each other’s work. That means more spend for the same answers and a slower path to market.

3. Missed signals

When brand tracking, consumer research, sales data and campaign performance aren’t connected, patterns are easily overlooked. CMOs lose the chance to detect early shifts in preference or emerging consumer motivations.

4. Inconsistent direction for agency partners

Disconnected insights lead to inconsistent briefs, which creates inconsistent work. CMOs end up paying for more revisions or entirely new creative explorations when they could have relied on past collective learnings.

And when media costs are rising and timelines are shrinking, these inefficiencies add up quickly.

Connected insights isn’t just about stitching together dashboards. It’s about building an ecosystem where:

• Every research study feeds the next

• Creatives, insights and brand teams work from the same truth

• Data becomes cumulative instead of project-based

True connected insights unify:

• Brand performance data: Brand equity shifts, category dynamics and competitive signals.

• Creative learnings: What types of ads, story arcs, messages and assets consistently work across markets and formats.

• Innovation and product insights: Claims and concepts known to resonate long before a product hits the shelf.

• Consumer behavior and sentiment: How preferences and perceptions evolve over time.

For CMOs, the value is simple: Connected insights converts your marketing organization into an always-on learning engine with a deeper understanding of your consumer.

While connecting insights has always been beneficial for brands, several forces are converging to make connected insights a necessity, not a luxury.

Consumers are more fragmented than ever

New channels, micro-influencers and shifting category behaviors make it harder to rely on isolated studies.

GenAI is accelerating speed expectations

Executives expect answers in hours, not weeks. CMOs must support these demands without sacrificing research quality.

Pressure to justify higher creative and media budgets

Production is more expensive than ever. CMOs need clearer evidence that ideas will work before investing.

The shift toward continuous learning

Organizations that treat research as a one-off activity move slower and risk missing key signals.

Put simply: Connected insights are the only way to operate at the speed modern marketing requires.

If you’re a CMO reading this piece or a colleague looking to reinforce the shift to connected insights, here’s the top four things this can unlock: 

1. Stronger, more predictable creative effectiveness

By connecting learnings across past campaigns and formats, CMOs can quickly see what story styles consistently outperform, which brand assets strengthen recall, which messages drive persuasion and where certain ideas work best. 

This seamlessly creates a playbook for scalable, repeatable creative success.

2. Faster, more confident pre-production decisions

Connected insights help CMOs move forward with or redirect creative before the big production dollars are spent. Patterns across past ads make it clear when concepts have legs and when they don’t and can help speed up the process to production.

3. Meaningful consumer closeness

With connected insights, CMOs can continuously track consumer sentiment, value perceptions, emerging category trends and more. This leads to more relevant messaging and more responsive strategies from the get-go.

4. Better cross-functional and agency collaboration

When teams share one connected ecosystem, they work from a single version of the truth. Creative and innovation partners get clearer briefs and marketing teams become more aligned.

So how can you get started? CMOs can start with several targeted, high-impact moves:

Adopt platforms built for scalable, connected insights

Tools like Zappi help teams run research at scale and automatically link learnings across ads, concepts, claims and more.

Create a standard for tagging and storing insights

A consistent taxonomy improves discoverability and pattern recognition.

Shift from project-by-project research to always-on learning

Instead of isolated studies, adopt a continuous cadence of testing that feeds back into briefs and decision making.

Connect creative, brand and innovation teams to the same ecosystem

A shared data model means faster decisions and better collaboration.

Establish feedback loops with agency partners

Recurring signals help agencies sharpen creative and build on what works.

The brands that outperform next year won’t be the ones doing more research. They’ll be the ones getting smarter from every piece of research.

Connected insights accelerates decisions, strengthens creative, improves concepts and builds a deeper connection with consumers. CMOs who embrace this shift will lead organizations that are not just better informed, but faster and more future ready.