UN Global Compact and Kantar Launch First-Ever Global Benchmark Study on Sustainable Marketing Transformation

The UN Global Compact and Kantar have jointly launched a landmark benchmark study—the first global CMO Benchmark Study—designed to measure how marketing organizations are advancing sustainable transformation across operations and strategy. The research represents a comprehensive assessment grounded in the CMO Blueprint for Sustainable Growth framework, which aligns with UN guidance on sustainable development. The initiative addresses a critical gap in industry measurement tools, providing marketers and organizational leaders with standardized metrics to evaluate progress in embedding sustainability into core business functions.

The study surveyed over 1,700 senior leaders spanning marketing, sustainability, innovation, and operations across major global regions and diverse sectors and business models. The breadth of respondents—encompassing organizations of varying sizes and geographies—enables the report to deliver one of the most detailed industry-wide views available on how sustainability is being integrated into growth strategy, brand building, innovation, communications, and cross-organizational partnerships. This scope distinguishes it from prior fragmented assessments and establishes a credible baseline for ongoing measurement of the marketing industry's sustainable transformation trajectory.

The findings reveal a pronounced disconnect between perceived progress and measurable execution. While 69% of marketers report their organizations are "progressing well" or "well advanced" in sustainability integration, the average perceived performance across the study's 28 benchmark statements stands at only 52%—a 17-percentage-point gap that signals significant capability shortfalls. This discrepancy indicates that while organizational momentum exists, concrete progress in capability building and execution lags behind leadership sentiment. Performance mapping reveals that marketers achieve highest scores in domains within their direct operational control: Communications, Advertising & Media functions score 56%, and Brand Strategy scores 54%. In contrast, areas requiring broader organizational coordination and systems-level change show materially weaker performance—Innovation at 50% and Collaboration & Partnerships at 48%—pointing to structural barriers in cross-functional alignment and resource allocation.

The benchmark establishes a critical planning tool for boards and institutional investors evaluating how public and private enterprises are operationalizing sustainability commitments. For hedge fund and family office managers assessing ESG execution quality across portfolio companies, the study's methodology and performance benchmarks provide empirical grounding for conversations with management teams. The report underscores that sustainability marketing transformation requires not only strategic alignment but sustained investment in organizational capability, cross-functional coordination structures, and measurable accountability against defined metrics—differentiating genuine progress from aspirational positioning.