Google’s Josh Spanier on the CMO armageddon that never came, and why AI is at “the end of the beginning

About this episode

Google VP of marketing and Frontier CMO podcast host Josh Spanier joins Ben in Mountain View to talk about the state of marketing today, and why the predicted CMO armageddon for 2026 never happened. Ben asks Josh why he thinks even sophisticated advertisers are only a few meters into the AI race and how Google uses incrementality and thousands of AI-generated budget scenarios to prove what’s working. They also get into Josh’s daily watch channel, what CMOs learn by being forced to post every day, and a lightning round of Signal or Noise. This is a special branded episode of Mixed Signals, presented by Think with Google and produced as part of our partnership by Semafor Brand Studio. For more, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com and watch Frontier CMO: https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkwithGoogle Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media If you have a tip or a comment, please email us mixedsignals@semafor.com