Forbes CMO Summit Europe 2025: Depth, not novelty
Returning to London for the Forbes CMO Summit Europe 2025 felt less like attending an event and more like re-joining an ongoing conversation.
The theme — What Matters Most — could easily have drifted into abstraction. Instead, the Summit doubled down on realism. Once again, Seth Matlins proved to be an exceptional steward of the dialogue, holding the line against platitudes and keeping the focus firmly on lived experience at the top of the profession.
What impressed me most in 2025 was the confidence of the room. There was less anxiety about tools, platforms, or trends, and more discussion about judgment, leadership, and organisational clarity. Marketing was treated not as a service function, but as a core driver of enterprise value.
Across the sessions, a few quiet themes emerged:
Growth remains the mandate, but the path to it is rarely linear
Measurement is essential, but never complete
Creativity and effectiveness are inseparable, not competing forces
The Summit reinforced something that is easy to forget amid constant change: progress in marketing does not come from chasing novelty. It comes from better questions, better thinking, and better conversations between people who take the responsibility of influence seriously.
I appreciated the continuity from the previous year — not because the ideas were repeated, but because they were deepened. The absence of ego, the willingness to admit uncertainty, and the focus on long-term impact made this another genuinely valuable experience.
Events like this, Seth’s experience and insight, and discussions with industry leaders remind me why I remain optimistic about the future of marketing — not because the challenges are smaller, but because the thinking is getting sharper.
