Second Edition
The
Agentic
CMO
Leading marketing in the age of AI agents
By Francesco Federico
Available June 2026
Informed by 20 years of leading marketing transformation at leading brands including
Why now
The mandate has changed
Marketing organisations are being asked to do more with less — and to do it faster. The old operating model of briefing agencies, waiting for campaigns, and measuring after the fact cannot keep pace. The CMO who cannot orchestrate intelligent systems will not survive the next budget cycle.
Agents are operational
AI agents are no longer theoretical constructs in research papers. They are executing campaigns, managing budgets, and making real-time decisions inside marketing operations today. The real question is how leaders deploy them with control, accountability, and commercial discipline.
The leadership gap is widening
Marketing leaders are being pushed towards autonomous systems faster than the profession has developed the frameworks to govern them. There is no settled body of practice here, and much of the advice in market is already dated. This book provides the operating model that is now needed.
27
Ready-to-Deploy Prompts
Copy into any AI tool, answer questions about your context, and receive a custom deliverable — board memos, governance charters, talent strategies. Each prompt is designed to make the book immediately actionable and relevant to your operation.
Explore the 27 prompts →What's inside
19 chapters across four parts, plus appendices
Part I
The Agentic Imperative
Why the marketing mandate has fundamentally changed — and what the new operating model demands.
Understanding Agentic AI
Building the Business Case
Part II
Building the Foundation
Architecture, culture, talent, and governance — the structural prerequisites for agentic operations.
The Bounded Autonomy Model
Governance for Autonomous Marketing
Part III
Execution & Scale
Compliance, measurement, ethics, and the operational playbook for deploying agents at scale.
Regulatory Compliance & Board Governance
Measuring What Matters
Part IV
The Frontier
GEO, machine-to-machine marketing, hybrid teams, and your 90-day transformation plan.
GEO: Generative Engine Optimisation
Your 90-Day Agentic Transformation Plan
From Chapter 1
The Autonomy Spectrum
Rule-Based Automation
Predetermined rules. If X happens, do Y. Consistent, scalable, entirely dependent on human-defined parameters.
Predictive AI
Analyses historical data to predict outcomes. Powerful analytical instruments that still require human interpretation and action.
Generative AI
Creates new content from patterns. Transformative for creation, but operates in request-response mode. A human must prompt, review, and deploy.
Agentic AI
Perception. Action. Cognition. Evolution. Agents that monitor, execute, reason, and improve — autonomously, within boundaries you define.
Increasing autonomy →
"Instead of marketers using tools, we are now orchestrating intelligent agents that make their own decisions within defined parameters. This is bounded autonomy."
— The Agentic CMO, Chapter 1
Written for
CMOs
CIOs & CTOs
Transformation Leaders
Board-Facing Executives
Francesco Federico
Global Chief Marketing Officer, S&P Global
Francesco Federico is Global Chief Marketing Officer at S&P Global, where he leads marketing inside a complex, high-accountability global business. His career has been defined by one consistent theme: applying technology to remove operational constraints, improve performance, and scale impact.
That through-line runs from entrepreneurial ventures in digital commerce and travel technology to senior leadership roles at Vodafone, Acer, JLL, and now S&P Global. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a member of the World Economic Forum Strategic Communicators Exchange.
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