In its report the European Marketing Agenda 2026, supported by EMC member the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the EMC warned that while 78% of chief marketing officers expected marketing budgets to remain stable or grow in 2026, they lacked the cross-functional AI and digital skills to deploy resources effectively.

The UK marketing sector was seen as slightly more reluctant to prioritise AI compared with European counterparts, with 37% prioritising AI for 2026. In contrast, in Portugal 52% prioritised AI and the overall average for all countries in the research was 43%, equal with sales and performance marketing ( 43%).

The report said that 45% of all respondents highlighted a lack of ‘expertise within the team’ as the primary difficulty in selecting and applying AI applications, while only 11% had a granular skills framework in place to enhance skills and capability, along with a dedicated programme and adequate budgets.  

Agentic AI, defined in the report as being autonomous multi-agent systems that can analyse information, make decisions and act without human input, was highlighted as a major force within marketing over the next year.

Areas expected to benefit most from agentic AI included automated content creation ( 54%), lead generation and qualification ( 49%), and automated social media listening ( 47%). 

The findings are based on a survey of more than 1,800 marketing and sales professionals across Europe, Asia and Africa.

Chris Daly, chief executive of the CIM and vice-chair of the EMC board, said: “AI is reshaping our profession; this report reinforces just how urgent it is for businesses to close the gap between their teams’ AI literacy and the accelerating pace of technological advancement.

“Organisations must see this moment as a pivotal opportunity to invest in skills development if they are to fully harness AI’s potential, meet regulatory obligations and improve staff retention.”