Top marketers double down on performance as economic pressure builds

Uncertainty has always been part of the job for senior marketers. But in 2025, it’s starting to feel like the default setting. With inflation still sticky, interest rates holding firm, and AI rewriting how teams work, CMOs are now being asked to do more — with less — in markets that feel unpredictable at best.

At the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) Global Marketer Conference last week, leaders from brands like Kraft Heinz, Diageo and Unilever offered a glimpse into how they’re navigating the current environment. What came through loud and clear: performance is back in fashion.

Brand-building hasn’t been abandoned. But marketing teams are under pressure to show impact faster, tighten their focus, and adapt in real time. And for many, that’s meant looking more seriously at affiliate, influencer and partnership channels that deliver measurable results.

From growth to accountability

In recent years, CMOs enjoyed a bit of breathing space. Post-pandemic optimism and digital acceleration gave marketing some room to invest in experimentation, brand campaigns and long-term strategy. But the mood has shifted.

CFOs want results. CEOs want speed. Boards want every function to contribute to growth — and that includes marketing.

As one speaker at the conference put it: “We’re being asked to explain how every campaign links to revenue, retention, or market share. It’s not just about impressions anymore.”

That shift is pushing marketers to rely more on performance-led tactics. Affiliate is coming back into focus. So is CRM, loyalty, and retargeting. Channels that were once considered tactical are now becoming strategic.

AI adds pressure — and opportunity

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. And while much of the conversation in marketing has focused on content creation and automation, the real power of AI right now lies in analysis.

Brands are using AI to scan huge data sets, spot customer trends faster, and feed insights into campaign planning in near real-time. That helps justify spend, improve timing, and reduce waste.

But it also raises expectations.

Marketers are no longer just creative leads. They’re expected to be data-literate, commercially-minded, and operationally tight. The best ones are building bridges between brand, product and performance teams — and pulling insights across all of them.

AI is accelerating that integration. And for affiliates, that’s good news. The more attribution improves, the easier it is to show the value of referral traffic, influencer content and long-tail partnerships.

Resilience over reach

At the conference, several CMOs talked about scenario planning — building marketing strategies that can flex as conditions change. That means balancing campaigns that support long-term brand equity with those that can deliver quick wins if the business needs a short-term lift.

In some cases, that means allocating more spend to affiliate and creator partnerships that don’t require big upfront investment. In others, it means holding budget in reserve to support product launches or market expansions that could shift based on external factors.

The overall trend is clear: resilience is winning over reach. Marketing teams want to avoid overcommitting. They’d rather run modular campaigns with built-in feedback loops than push out six-month strategies that can’t pivot when the market moves.

Affiliate’s role in the new plan

For affiliate marketers, this moment offers both risk and reward.

On the one hand, performance is back at the centre of the conversation. Marketers are hungry for channels that deliver on a cost-per-acquisition or revenue share model. That plays directly into affiliate’s strengths.

But the expectations are higher now. Being able to drive traffic isn’t enough. Affiliate partners need to bring credibility, clean data, and ideally — access to audiences that are hard to reach elsewhere.

Marketers are looking for depth, not just scale. They want affiliate partners who can integrate into their wider campaigns, not sit in a separate silo.

The big takeaway

The current economic uncertainty isn’t stopping marketing — but it is reshaping it. Campaigns are shorter, more accountable, and often more collaborative.

Affiliate and performance-based partnerships are set to grow, especially in industries where margins are tight and the pressure to show impact is high. But growth will go to those who can show real value — not just reach or clicks.

In 2025, marketers are no longer asking whether something could work. They’re asking whether it did. And that mindset shift will define which partnerships survive the squeeze.