The creative leadership framework CMOs need for 2026

Let me ask you something: Do you think creativity matters in marketing?

Of course you do. We all do.

Now for some harder questions: Do you feel like you can adequately judge your own creative or the creative that's going on in your company? Can you rely on your internal teams rather than running to external agencies for every creative idea?

If you answered no, you're not alone. Not by a long shot.

The good news is I’m here to share a framework I created to help CMOs drive results and turn creative from a cost center into a strategic driver – the same framework I used to take OPI from $120 million to a billion-dollar valuation during the worst economic recession in decades.

Let’s dive in.

The creative confidence crisis nobody's talking about

The numbers tell a story that should keep every CMO up at night. According to Marketing Week, 80% of marketers say creative quality is key to marketing success. Meanwhile, Nielsen reports that creative quality drives 47% of a brand's sales lift from advertising. 

But here's the kicker: fewer than 40% of marketers are confident in their ability to accurately assess the impact of their creative.

Think about that for a second. We all know creative drives sales. We all know it matters. But most of us are flying blind when it comes to understanding what works and why.

I wasn't always the person who could crack this code. Picture this: an 18-year-old kid from New Jersey, so shy I could barely order coffee, driving a beat-up Dodge Neon to Hollywood with nothing but a dream of working in creative. I was so naive that I actually drove to the Sunset Strip thinking, "Well, this is where I'm gonna live."

But you know what? When I saw those billboards towering over Sunset, something clicked. This was it. This was what I was meant to do.

I couldn't afford art school, I didn't know a soul in Hollywood, and I had zero contacts. So I did the next best thing – I went to work for the best people in the business. I put in my 10,000 hours learning everything on set and in agencies, soaking up knowledge like a sponge.

It paid off. I helped take a beauty company through a crisis from $120 million to $1 billion. I took on Brooklyn Nine-Nine – a show that had zero visual creative direction – and within the first year, we had Golden Globe nominations. 

But those wins didn't come from following the traditional playbook. They came from a framework I developed that turns conventional wisdom on its head.

The four pillars of profit-driven creative strategy

Let’s take a look at the four pillars that have consistently turned creative chaos into clarity, and cost centers into profit drivers.

1. Lock down on external creative spend

I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a company and found them bleeding money on external agencies. The problem with agencies is that they're playing a different game than you are. They care about awards, not your bottom line.

The first thing I do is audit every external creative relationship. Nine times out of ten, I find waste that would make your head spin.

Most companies take three, six, or even nine months to understand their creative spend. That's insane. With today's tools, especially AI, you can do this analysis in days, not months. You need to know where every dollar is going, and you need to know it fast.

2. Make cross-functional leadership the key to creative strategy

This is where the magic happens. Every billion-dollar creative campaign I've led centered around getting all teams in alignment, not just marketing and creative. I'm talking product, sales, customer service – everyone.

3. Find and leverage existing assets 

You’d be stunned at how often I’ve seen campaigns stall, while great assets were just sitting there, collecting dust. To stop this from happening to you, do a thorough inventory of all the creative assets in your company’s arsenal, and make sure teams are communicating with each other.

4. Promote in-house creative development

The best creative comes from people who live and breathe your brand every day, not from agencies that juggle 20 clients and give you their B-team. 

Now, let’s explore a couple of case studies showing how I've put this framework into practice – and driven huge results.

Case study #1: OPI 

It was 2008 when OPI hired me, right in the middle of the financial crisis. Nobody wanted to buy nail polish, nobody wanted to sell nail polish, and nail salons were closing.

This was where I really learned the power of in-house creative agencies. OPI had never used external agencies before, and they still don’t. That experience shaped my belief that internal creative teams are often the best way to go.