Return on Intelligence: The New Growth Currency CMOs Can’t Afford to Ignore

Traditional ROI still matters, of course. No CFO is ever going to stop asking about returns on spend. But the CMOs who are quietly pulling ahead are judging themselves on something deeper: Return on Intelligence – the compounding value of every insight, every model, and every decision loop they build into the system. In many Indian boardrooms today, the marketing review doesn’t start with “How many impressions did we get?” anymore. It starts with something sharper:

• “What did we learn?”
• “What changed in our profitability?”
• “Where should the next rupee go?”

Instead of simply asking, “Did this campaign pay back?”, they ask, “Did this campaign make us smarter in a way that keeps paying back?”

That is a very different conversation.

From Return on Investment to Return on Intelligence

Return on Intelligence goes beyond short-term sales lift. It captures three things that rarely show up in a simple ROI cell:

1. How quickly a brand can convert data into decisions
2. How precisely it can reallocate budgets in real time
3. How consistently it can improve margins, not just top-line

This is where AI-led Marketing Mix Modelling, explainable systems, and prescriptive analytics quietly change the game.

Platforms such as Skewb don’t just measure the past; they also simulate the future and recommend actions. They allow Indian CMOs to ask natural questions—“What if I trim my festive outdoor by 10%?”, “What happens if I push OTT harder in South India?”—and receive decision-ready answers instead of dense spreadsheets.

The result is not just better campaigns. It is a smarter organisation.

Proof on the Table: What Return on Intelligence Looks Like in Numbers

For this “intelligence premium” to be taken seriously by boards and journalists, it needs hard numbers. Some enterprises working with Skewb have already put figures to it—without fanfare, but with very real financial impact. An enterprise assessing its AI investments saw 21–26% productivity gains within two years, along with 14–19% improvement in margins after the third year. The real win wasn’t a single project; it was a smarter operating rhythm where every subsequent decision became faster and more evidence-led. A consumer goods major worked with AI-led MMM to find high-ROI channels in a crowded mix. That exercise boosted marketing efficiency by 35% and sales by 9%, while cutting silent wastage no one had spotted earlier. These are not “AI for AI’s sake” stories. They are examples of what happens when intelligence itself becomes an asset class inside the company.

Why Indian CMOs, Specifically, Need Return on Intelligence

India is a demanding playground for marketers:

• Dozens of languages and cultures
• Tier 1 vs Tier 3 realities
• Festive spikes that can make or break the year
• Rapid swings in digital platforms, influencers, and retail behaviour

Return on Intelligence gives CMOs three crucial advantages:

1. Speed with Accountability
   When AI agents and Marketing Mix Models are always refreshed, CMOs can change course mid-month without waiting for post-campaign reports. Decisions that once took six weeks can now be explored in a single afternoon—backed by explainable simulations rather than instinct alone.
2. Confidence in Board Conversations
   Explainable AI, which lies at the core of Skewb’s approach, breaks down model logic in plain language. A marketing leader can now say, “This 5% shift from Print to Connected TV is projected to lift revenue by X and protect margin by Y, because these three variables move together.” That kind of narrative earns respect across the table.
3. Compounding Learning
   Each campaign is not just an event; it becomes a data point that improves the next recommendation. With closed-loop feedback, the system learns which strategies work for Diwali vs Onam, metro vs mini-metro, luxury vs mass segments. Over time, the organisation’s “intelligence capital” grows, reducing the cost of uncertainty.

Building an “Intelligence Balance Sheet”

If Return on Intelligence is a growth currency, CMOs need to start treating it like one:

• Audit where intelligence lives today. Is it trapped in agencies, silos, and individual analysts, or embedded into shared systems?
• Ask how long it takes for a question to become a decision. If answers still take weeks, intelligence is not yet a strategic asset.
• Push partners beyond reporting. With a specialist like Skewb in your arsenal, the goal becomes prescriptive clarity—“do this next”—not just retrospective charts.
• Measure the uplift from smarter decisioning. Productivity gains of 21–26%, margin improvements touching 19%, and efficiency jumps of 20–40% are no longer theoretical; they can be evidenced by real businesses that have invested in intelligence as seriously as they invest in media.

The CMO’s New Question

Despite everything, budgets will stay contested, channels will keep multiplying, and consumer attention will become even harder to hold. The CMOs who thrive will be the ones who stop asking only, “What did we get for this spend?” and start asking, “What did we learn that will make every future rupee smarter?”

That is Return on Intelligence.
And for Indian brands serious about durable, compounding growth, it may well be the most important metric the board hasn’t formally put on the agenda—yet.